Getting Started Part 1 - Social Media for Small Business

Planning is the first step for businesses who want to enter the world of Social Media

Social Media for Small Business - Part One

I recently gave a talk at a Lorain County small business group, the discussion was centered on Social Media and small businesses. After talking to this group I realized that many small business owners, when it comes to social media, are unsure about  what to do, how to do it and where to get started. So these next few posts will be geared towards them. This advice should work for businesses thinking of blogging, tweeting, starting a facebook fan page or using social media in general.

Step One - Research

Check with your customers. If you are thinking of blogging or tweeting, is your customer base looking at blogs or tweets?  Ask them if they are on line and what they like doing. Try finding out what your potential customers are doing. Look at your competitors, or companies in related fields. Ask people at business networking groups what they do. People love to talk about them selves, especially if they think they are doing something right.

Find existing blogs, Facebook groups/fan pages, or people tweeting about your field/products. Monitor Twitter with products such as TweetDeck, to see what and who is tweeting about your market or field. Can you identify who are the industry leaders? Follow keywords related to your topic on Technorati and Google Blog Search. Set up Google Alerts on those keywords.

Step Two - Planning

 This is the boring part of running a business. You need to make sure you know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what you expect from it before you start doing it. There are many cases were Ready Fire Aim works. In this case trust me, I have fired before aiming often, but in this instance you will be much happier if you aim first.

What resources are you going to commit to this effort? Who will generate content and how often? Are you going to purchase a design template or use a free one? Personally I feel professionally designed templates look better but as in my case time or money can dictate otherwise.

Step Three - Validate

This is the sanity check. Review your reasons for doing this?  Does the why make sense from a business stand point? What are the expected results? Are they realistic?

I've asked this of many people who tell me they are going to start blogging or tweeting. Most can not give be business reason why, other that everyone else is. In the back of my mind I hear my Mom's voice muttering something about jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge or empire state building.

There are lots of reasons for businesses to blog or get involved with social media. Some of them are: It is a way to share your expertise with current and potential customers. It can promote product/services, although I'd suggest that this is not a good reason to start blogging. You can build a community of people with a common interest. Blogging can engage your customers...

Step 4 - Preparation

Read and Comment
Hopefully you have identified blogs related to your field. I suggest that take some time reading what others are writing about, and then start commenting on posts. Personally I'd suggest commenting on a few blogs instead of spreading yourself thin over many blogs. If you have the time there is nothing wrong with keeping track of several blogs but concentrate on a select few.

Pick a Platform
There are several blogging platforms available:  Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad to name a few. Check them out,  read reviews or comparisons and pick one which meets your needs.

I Want to Do Something Now
You should be busy with steps 1 - 4.  But for those of you who want action and want to do something concrete now, I suggest Local Search is a place to start. Do you have a Google Local Business account? Is you business listed on Yahoo Local, City Search, Local.com or Yelp?

If you want to do something right now, create local business listings on these services. It is easy to do and is a good first step. Be warned that Google and Yelp will ask you for your business phone number and will call it within minutes (or seconds) after you submit your business listing to verify the information is accurate.

Read Social Media for Small Business - Part 2.