The Guide to Success in Social Media

At least a couple times a week I have someone contact me that is trying to take advantage of social networks and social media in general to promote their business. Frequently they've heard success stories on sites like Facebook and they want to get in on the action but don't know where to start. While I think that social networks can be a great channel for promotion I don't think it is the most effective channel. To every single person that asks me: "How do I promote my business via social media?" I end up giving the same response 9 times out of 10. In my own opinion the best way to promote your business online is through the creation of a blog and integration of a video show. Here are the steps that you need to take to get set up: Create a Blog & Pick a Domain Typically I would imagine that the topic of discussion for a traditional business is straightforward. If you are in the wine business, discuss wine. If you are in the flower business, discuss flowers. The same goes for real estate, food, hospitality, travel and others. The bottom line is that you need to be talking about the business you are in to let others know that you are the expert. Once you know the topic go ahead and grab your domain. Examples of domains include Gary Vaynerchuk's Winelibrary.tv and my friend Jesse Kaye's BuildingDC.com where he talks about real estate in the D.C. market. The easiest way to set up your blog is to go to Wordpress.com or Blogger.com. Blogger tends to be more customizable and has less restrictions. Find Interesting Content to Discuss One of the hardest parts of social media is finding a way to constantly spark discussion. Social media isn't a one-sided activity though and joining the conversation is equally important. To find the conversation go to Technorati, Google Blogsearch and Google News and do a search for broad keywords about your topic. For example I do a search for the word "social" on Google blogsearch and on Technorati and read through all of those articles to find content for this site. The easiest way to read through those articles is by subscribing to the feeds of those searches via Google Reader. While that may be extreme, picking the best phrases will help you narrow down the content. When you find content that's of interest to you either comment on the blog post that you found to be interesting or write an article. While you can't write a million articles everyday, try to get out at least one article to keep the conversation going on your site. Buy a Flip Cam This has now become one of the default activities for anybody trying to promote them self or their business through social media. A Flip video camera is an extremely low price video camera which records up to 60 minutes of video for less than $200. It provides high quality video and audio that is perfect for web videos. I hate to push a product so hard but the Flip Cam has made it so that anybody can get their videos on the web. Start Experimenting With Video Video is one of the best mediums for connecting with your readers and viewers. It help build a personal connection without you even being in a face to face situation. Gary Vaynerchuk of Winelibrary.tv is probably the best success story of a single person web video show but there are countless others. Since my friend Jesse Kaye started BuildingDC.com he has closed a number of clients by generating simple videos talking about individual properties in the D.C. area and general issues facing the real estate market. Unless you were born a celebrity it takes time to figure out what works and what doesn't. Ask your viewers and they will tell you. Don't be shy and be willing to try things out. Experimentation creates a human element and this is what will help you connect even more with your viewers. Get Visibility One of the biggest challenges facing new blogs is getting visibility. For videos getting visibility is as easy as using TubeMogul. This site posts your video to most web video sites and provides analytics for your videos as well. To get visibility for your blog outside of your video you need to get active in the community. There are a few ways to get active: Comment on blogs - Visit other blogs and comment on them consistently. Bloggers like to know that they have regular readers and letting others know that you are paying attention is a great way to get them to return the favor. Also having your name link back to your blog is a great way to have new readers find out about your site. Link to people - Link to people as often as possible. If you find interesting content on other sites, you should link to it. People constantly check to see who is linking to them. When they see that you are linking to them they'll check out your site and hopefully return the favor. At the least they'll check out your site and now you have one more reader! Join Twitter - Try joining Twitter and follow a couple hundred people. Hopefully you will find interesting people that like discussing things that you like. You can use Summize to search for people that are discussing topics of interest. Be Persistent and Have Patience The most important thing is to be persistent. Even if you only have 1 reader you need to keep at it. Eventually your readership will grow to hundreds if not thousands of readers if you continue to generate valuable content. Persistence and patience are two values which are core to success in social media. If you believe in your future success it will eventually come, you just need to stick with it. Don't come up with excuses why you can't blog or participate in social media, just do it. Absolutely everybody should have a blog that they use to promote their business and you are no excuse. Success in social media is like success at the gym. Without consistency and persistence you will never get in shape at they gym. Try it out and I guarantee your success. If you follow these steps and still have questions, shoot me an email at contact [aT] socialtimes [DoT] com. Are there any other tips that you would suggest for traditional businesses to get started in social media?

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The Guide to Success in Social Media

Nick O'Neill

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Nick O'Neill