subject: Social Media Guide For Beginners [print this page] Social media has been practiced now as a means for small business to establish their brands online without having to spend much. Unluckily, many are also fearful on the tasks that lies ahead. You may learn easily or in a difficult way, that depends on how secure you are in using web and technology generally.
There's no need to implement a full-fledged strategy right away though. It takes time to get momentum going. In the meantime, here are some tips you should keep in mind when starting out:
Start Small While Thinking Big
It would be foolhardy to jump into every trend you see without looking into its relevance for your business. Try out a couple of social media sites first and create profiles there. Regularly add friends, fans, and followers by contacting both regular customers and prospects. It is important to update your profile regularly with new content and fresh information. If you see results from the first few endeavors, it is time to expand your social media coverage.
Place a Widget on Your Blog
One of the best ways to get a solid following is to make it easy for people to recommend your site and service. Widgets provide both of those. Get notice to those popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Digg among others.
Test the Effectiveness of Widgets
Different audiences will have varying response and characteristics. For example, there are blogs that may have lots of Facebook fans but receive barely any recommendations on Digg. Just as some blogs may get many Retweets but doesn't make an impact at all. Identify which tools should be kept and which tools to drop in your blog.
Don't Go for the Hard-Sell
It might be tempting to bombard your followers with offers, discounts, and marketing materials on a daily basis but this tactic hardly ever works. People appreciate exclusive offers now and then. But they won't like it if they feel that your company is pushing too hard to get sales. Spreading out news articles and reports may be more beneficial. Answering their questions and concerns is also important.
Look at the Strategy of Others
Are you wondering why a certain company is getting so many regular followers? If so, look at their social media strategy. This will let you know what their secrets are, what tools they use, and how they were able to get a strong following.
