Action steps for getting your business started in Social Media—today.
This week’s social media blog posts:
Monday: The Social Media Manifesto.
Tuesday: Social Media and business.
Wednesday: Your Social Media strategy: What are you hoping to achieve?
Thursday: Social Marketing turns the Media Funnel upside down.
Friday: Action steps for getting your business started in Social Media—today.
(This is the seventh in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)
Immersing yourself and your business into Social Media no longer has to be a “someday” proposition. There are beneficial steps you can take this afternoon that will provide you with a giant leap forward into utilizing Social Media to grow your business. Here are four things that you can do:
- Step One: Find out what conversations are already going on about you online. Find out what people are saying about you and your category. Use free blog seach tools such as icerocket.com or Google blogseach. Check out sites like Digg.com and Del.icio.us that track the most popular topics on the Web to see if there is any buzz around your category and products. In some cases, you’ll find popular bloggers who talk up your products. When that happens, give them a shout out, or allow them to sample your newest release before it goes public.
- Step Two: Participate in the conversation. Identify three blogs that are relevant to your business and your target market, and start reading them on a regular basis. Particularly, look for blogs by thought leaders in your industry, competitors, vendors, clients and prospects. When a blog post resonates with you, make a comment (often times, registering with your URL will help optimize your web site) Send samples of your product, no strings attached, to leading bloggers and thought leaders for feedback.
- Step Three: Find a community. Search the major social networks (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.) for an interest group where your company’s expertise and knowledge would be appreciated. Is there something you can contribute to the conversation that doesn’t have to do with a sales pitch?
- Step Four: Identify your most passionate users. Even if you’re unable to identify exactly who they are right now, chances are you have some sort of customer database, whether it is around coupon redemption, direct mail response or even fan letters. Consider that a starting point to finding your “brand evangelists.” Make it a priority to get a quality database of users that will be glad to hear from you. (Our advice: don’t purchase a list. Start with an organic list, even if it is small.) Continually scrub your database and find out more about your audience each time you communicate with them, and continually provide them with fresh meaningful content. And above all, honor the “opt out.”
Even if you just do one of these things today (or this week), your company will benefit.
As always, we look forward to your feedback on this series. If you’re not currently receiving the Quisenblog, you can subscribe here.
Posted by Mickey
Similar Posts:
- Now that you’ve engaged, it’s time to re-engage.
- Picking a face, part 2.
- Social Media and business.
- Your Social Media strategy: What are you hoping to achieve?
- Use Social Media to give your customers a seat at the table.
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