5 Social Media Tools You Need In Your Small Business

Everyone keeps telling you, you need it, you’d better use it and your business will suffer without it – but there are only so many hours in a day, so what essential steps do you need in your social media campaign?

Let’s cut through the noise and fluff and look at exactly what you should be doing without spending hours chained to your computer;

STEP 1

I’m sure you have heard of Facebook – more likely you are using it already, but do you have a fan page set up for your business?

A fan page allows you to deliver news, offers and interaction with your potential customers, without any hard sell. There is no limit to the amount of ‘fans’ that can sign up to your page (unlike the facebook groups) and you can keep this separate from your main Facebook account if you so wish. This means that you can send a silly message to your friends wall, without worrying about any of your business contacts seeing it or wondering what you’d poured over your cornflakes that morning.

There are also many additional apps that you can add to your fan page to make it really stand out. Check out Gary Vaynerchuks facebook fanpage for some inspiration. You’ll notice that you land on the ‘Who is Gary’ tab and it looks like a mini site in itself. This is done with the use of an app called Static FBML. Once you have installed this app, make sure you add it as a tab and then you will have a blank page to include your own html code (you might need someone to do this for you if you have no experience with writing code).

If hiring some help is out of the question there are still plenty of apps that you can use to make your Fan Page remain interesting, from Twitter updates to RSS feeds, there are plenty of ways to keep your readers engaged. Check out the apps directory for a full list of what is on offer. And don’t forget to add your Fan Page widget to your blog and website (see mine on the right).

STEP 2

Twitter is the next essential tool to add into your arsenal and contrary to popular belief, the whole world is not on Twitter (yet) which is why it’s important to integrate your Tweets within your Facebook fan page using one of the apps available.

It’s vital to start using Twitter because it allows you to react to both positive and negative feedback quickly and efficiently. It also allows you to make contact with a wide variety of folks in the Twittersphere they may become friends, customers or even joint venture partners.

It’s the perfect place to receive and give advice but above all it allows you to interact with people and show that there is a real person lurking behind the company’s corporate image.

Always use Twitter as a platform to give great value and never a sales pitch. Buy my stuff never goes down well with folks on Twitter so use it to build relationships and with that comes trust which is a platform for long-term business success.

Make it easy for people to follow you on Twitter by adding a ‘Follow me’ button on your website and blog. You can have a more interactive widget on your blog (see right) if you prefer.

Are we friends on Twitter yet?

STEP 3

Writing a blog is essential for any business nowadays. Done correctly it not only serves to bring extra traffic to your site, it enables customers to check out the face behind the name prior to making any sort of commitment.

My personal recommendation for a blog platform is WordPress as it is so incredibly versatile. You can add various plugins to integrate your other social media sites (you can see both my Twitter and Facebook widgets on the right of my blog) and this makes it easier for your audience to stay in touch via their preferred method of Social Media.

You need to add content regularly to stay ahead in the search engines and to keep your readers interested. If you are stuck for ideas on what to blog about, check out my post on Ideas for Small Business Blogs.

It’s essential to write regular posts but these don’t have to be mammoth – a short, useful and interesting post for your niche is often far more attention grabbing than a rambling essay. And don’t forget the power of video, a short little video post can take a few minutes to create but can easily be shared with many readers.

STEP 4

LinkedIn is a great place to have a presence when you have an online business. I would consider LinkedIn to be more ‘Professional Networking’ as it is a means to attract potential employees or be hired yourself.

In addition to the fantastic opportunities available regarding jobs, it also allows you to find potential JV partners within its vast network.

As LinkedIn is an authority site, anyone that Googles your company is likely to stumble across your LinkedIn profile. so again, it’s important that you keep the information current and professional.

There is also an ability to get recommended/receive testimonials on LinkedIn which is a great way to let your potential customers/clients/employees/employers know that you are a reliable, trustworthy and recommended source.

Make use of the various apps available on LinkedIn, you can import your blog and Tweets, add Slideshows and much more. Start your own group and join some of the established ones.

It’s a really good resource for businesses, so make the most of it.

STEP 5

Forums can be a really great place to interact with your audience, meet new business contacts and build your online presence. The danger comes when you join too many and you spend too much time spreading yourself thin between a large volume of them.

The best way to use a forum is to join a few, test the water with a few helpful posts and then just follow your gut feeling. Stick with the ones that you feel will be beneficial to you long-term and aim to post within them regularly.

The point of forums is a little like Twitter but without the restriction of 140 characters. It’s about helping people find answers to problems that you can solve. Giving someone a solution and making their life a little easier is a powerful way to build relationships, so give forums a go but don’t get too wrapped up in the amount of time spent there.

Make sure that you choose a forum that allows you to have a signature because you can direct people towards your blog within it. If you have been helpful/friendly then people are curious to know more so they will click on your signature to find out a little bit more – not because you asked them to but because they chose to!

A good place to find forums suitable for your niche is Big Boards which is a directory of forums. It also allows you to see how active the forums are as joining a dead forum is a waste of your time.

IN CONCLUSION

Social Media is here to stay. It takes the control from large corporations and gives it back to the consumer. It forces out the cowboys and allows the businesses with integrity to shine. It allows a more level playing field because small businesses now have the opportunity to compete with large ones as the consumer can base their decisions on their Social Experience with you.

To get the most from Social Media, you don’t need to be online 24/7 – choose a handful of sites (pref the ones I have mentioned above) and stick to them. You will be amazed at the results you get when you start to implement these simple practices and it needn’t be draining on your time.

• 3-4 Blog Posts each week – 1-2 hrs MAX
• 5-10 Tweets each day – 20 mins
• Integrate your tweets into both your Facebook Fan Page and your LinkedIn a/c
• Integrate your blog into Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
• Utilize the signature within your forum profiles to guide people towards your blog/site.
• Visit 3-4 forums and quickly scan for posts you can help with, spend no more than 1hr doing this.

So in total, your Social Media campaign can tally up to roughly 3.5hrs each week MAXIMUM, and when compared to the results, is a small amount of time for a long-lasting and valuable return.

What do you think about social media? Is it worth your time?

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