Getting Started Part 2 - Social Media for Small Business

Social Media for Small Business - Part Two

Part One dealt with planning your social media strategy, now comes the actual doing. What should you blog, tweet or share with your friends / customers? For this entry I will concentrate on blogging.

What to Write About?

You need to figure that out for yourself - unless you are willing to hire someone to figure that out for you. Hopefully you have done your homework (from part one) and found out what other people are writing about in your industry. It is better to be unique? Many marketing people suggest contrary marketing - zig when others zag. While that may get you noticed, sometimes everyone is taking the same point of view because they are correct.

Customers want useful information.That seems obvious but keep it in mind when generating content. Whatever you choose to write about, make it useful to your audience.

How Often to Write?

Some people suggest daily posts if you want to get your blog noticed. As a small business owner I find that is not possible. Tweeting daily, about relevant and interesting news items you find is possible. But, writing a blog should be commitment, and many small businesses do not have the time or resources to do so daily. IMHO weekly is fine, and so is bi-monthly.

The more often you can write content the better, but quality is better than quantity. Especially when it comes to attracting return visitors.

When I started out, I tried for twice a month and found out that it was hard to do. I'd get busy and put it off for a couple of days. Before I knew it the month was almost over. Weekly is now the goal for this blog (wish me luck).

Allow Comments

Some people ask if they should allow comments on their blog. I always say yes, although there is nothing wring with moderating them. You do not want profanity or link spam on your blog.

Tracking Traffic

You can use Google Analytics if you have an account with Google to track visitors to your site.Being familiar with HTML will help you get this done, or try and find a friend to help with this. If you are using Blogger, all it takes is adding a verification code into your site's template.

Promote Your Blog

Now that you are blogging don't forget to promote your blog. Include your blog and most recent article in your email signature, ask friends and associates to read and comment on your blog. Try getting it posted to blog indexes, and also link to it in social news sites, such as Digg, Stumbledupon, or Reddit. Remember not to spam.

Good luck.