Okay, you’ve got a small business, or you’re thinking of going into work for yourself. Or you’ve just left Corporate America and you’re figuring out what’s next.
Here are 9 Quick Tips on how to start using Social Media Marketing (and Web Marketing and Internet Marketing) to Make Some Noise!
- See if your business name or your own name are available on Namechk. Don’t focus on getting all of your names, but do get the big ones.
- While you’re at it, don’t ignore your own name — if you have a business, you’ll want to nab your personal space in case you need it later. If you are a sole practitioner — like you’re in Real Estate — you’ll want to use your own name instead of a business name.
- Twitter: it might scare you, it might seem like a ton of work, it might seem like everyone is saying stuff like “I am eating soup right now.” Don’t worry about using Twitter as anything other than a conversation engine, and spend some time using it before you even ask for the sale. If ever.
- Do you have a web page? Do you have a blog? How about both at the same time. We recommend WordPress. It’s easy to use, and, even though it’s a blogging platform, it’s also a Content Management System, or CMS.
- Video is a great way to simply, effectively and inexpensively tell a story. If you don’t have an expensive video camera, use a Flip. Video yourself talking about your business, make it two minutes or less, and post it to YouTube. AND post it to Metacafe. Why them? See item 6.
- Metacafe rules when it comes to getting your video actually seen. Keywords and metatags and all that — it’s the number two site in the US for video sharing.
- Start collecting email addresses in the most ethical way possible: use a service like aWeber. Double opt-in is direct marketing lingo for asking your permission, then sending you a note double-checking on that permission before sending a marketing message. Better than Constant Contact, in our opinion.
- Blogging is great. But be sure to take time to comment on others’ blogs. Don’t sell people stuff — just find something you agree with or disagree with in the post, and make a comment about it. Spend 10 minutes a day doing this and it will pay dividends.
- Remember, it’s not hours: it’s output. It’s not about efficiency, it’s about effectiveness.
Go get em!
{ 5 comments }
This is a really useful selection of information especially the Namechk tip, that’s a new one to me.
Thanks for the comment!
Yes, namechk does good work – but I think the key here is to find your name and take ownership of it wherever you can.
Cheers!
I have been using http://knowem.com over namechk.com – almost 3x’s the amount of sites, a great paid option and also more accurate.
Nice primer, Dave.
Robert is right on about knowem. The paid option is a real no-brainer.
For those who wish to delve a little deeper in the muck, here is a great piece on how to build a DIY social media business intelligence engine: http://bit.ly/wrd7v
Know the lay of the land before you commit your resources…:)
Thanks, Jim…
BTW, for those fearful of bit.ly and other types of shortened links – this one is from Read Write Web, which always does good work. In this case, there’s a picture of the Swedish Chef – making it a must-read article.