Social Media -where to begin… Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger, Wordpress, Posterous, Buzz… OMG, How long can this list get and how is a business owner supposed to be able to utilize all these outlets?!?!?! You can’t, and that’s okay… The big picture is that a good marketing strategy doesn’t thin itself out on limitless outlets – it works on those that fit your industry and produce the best ROI (return on investment). Now, before I go any further I do want to add that throwing social media into the mix isn’t as black and white as you might be accustomed when monitoring your ROI. This web-based marketing is something you will have to “feel-out” and since it is free and doesn’t take much time… you can conclude that any business gained can automatically be viewed as pure return.

Now… lets get a game plan… as a retail business you need to know your market area – local? regional? national? If the bulk of your business is centered in your local city then taking the time to initial and build relationships from people 3 states over probably isn’t the best way to start… yet. Its great to have goals, but localizing your “community” is imperative to build a web-networking foundation.
The most common social networks is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogger/wordpress if you decide to take the blog challenge… everything else you might come across can all be linked through these main networks. (Now I say this, but be assured… 6 months from now this could be different – staying up to date on the technological curve is essential Today I’m going to start with Facebook…. This is where a retail business can get involved with its local community and by involved I mean finding out about events, who is who, whats going on with your area and how to become part of the mix. As you begin learning about the people in your community and building an online presence/relationships (this is gained from general convo’s and simple daily interactions) you will find that people will interact back. Keep it real… an occasional heads up about a promotion is great to keep people updated on what you have to offer, but if you never initiate anything but marketing campaigns then no one will listen. You know as well as I do, no one – NO ON likes spam. Become a resource – throwing out little tid-bits of local news, interesting articles you found online or posting updates about local events will ensure that people will take note of your posts. Taking note.. that is the goal- So the next time someone needs a product you offer YOU will get the business because they “take note” of what you say because its interesting, thus you and your business is interesting. Everyone knows that repetition is key… so keep yourself in the lime-light… the more often you say something the more often your business gets free face time.
So now you have a basic idea on what you can do to connect, but how exactly do I get started??? Go to Facebook.com fill out your basic info and sign up, don’t worry the entire process shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. After signing up you can add a photo and edit your profile. After you are happy with the content of your profile you can go to the friends link on the left side and begin searching for people. Start with friends, family, business associates, local shops you do business with, and close customers. After establishing a few friends you can begin branching out by looking through the friend lists of your friends and finding people you may know and would like to connect with. This is how you will begin building your online community… Now that you have established yourself you can take the next step in making those connections work for you.
Time… yep, time is a valuable little booger and I’m telling you that this social media thing doesn’t take much time…. so no worries! Take note of the time of day that most of your friends are online and try to make a daily online appearance around that time. See what other people have posted – anything worth repeating? have personal news you’d like to share? anything weird/controversial in the news you’d like to mention? a quick blurb about a new product? take a moment to write a blurb for the day. Then skim through your posts made by your friends and take a moment to comment on something they said. Everyone wants attention and by nurturing their online presence they will in-turn nurture yours. This should take 15-20min of your day… not too painful I hope If you ever feel like you’ve reached a wall – take a moment and look at someone elses page for inspiration. As your circle grows you will find it easier to connect and these connections are your market. Word of mouth is valuable and let me tell you – Facebook is a place for talk! I hope this quick article helped and feel free to ask me questions… I’m here to be an online resource and help you get connected…. Please note that this is written from my own personal experience both as a web marketer and even more as a VERY “seasoned” consumer.

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