Some people say having a website with no internet 
marketing is like printing a fancy brochure and
leaving it in the box rather than distributing it.
There is a whole world out there called the Internet and it has various
channels or features that we can use to help market our business to a wider community.
One main area of the Internet is called Social media and it comprises of Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Youtube, etc. The main aim of is to harness the power of social media to benefit
your business or brand and promote it as widely as possible.
Some of the areas to consider involve:
Having a basic understanding of blogging in business
When you developing a plan for your business the core area of this will be the area
of “blogging”. This involves writing an article or post about an aspect or area of your business.
This article or post is then published or added to your website and gives you the foundation
to engage with social media and broadcast or share your content across it.
See what Social Media Platforms are out there
We need to have a look out there and see what Social media channels or
platforms are available for us to interact with.
These include Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc.
We will need to create an account or profile with those we choose to use.
Linking your website with your social media profiles
Another key component is making sure your website posts or articles are automatically
shared with your social media profiles. I find the using WordPress for your website posts
and article management along with its various plugins allows you to easily
integrate your website with your social media channels.
Listening in on Twitter and see how it works
One of the main Social media channels to get to grips with is Twitter.
Here you can send a tweet or message of up to 140 characters.
People tweet about anything and everything.
The best way to understand how twitter works is to drop in on a social group
or community via their #hash-tag and see how they interact with each other.
Source the top profiles in your particular area of business or expertise
Once you have gone around the various social media channels and understand how it
works the next step would be to see how the top users or profiles that relate to your business use it.
See how they interact with people and share their knowledge or ideas.
Engaging and connecting with people or profiles on social media
When you have created your profile on the various social media channels you will need to
engage or connect with people or other profiles. For example with Twitter this might involve
following people you are interested in and as you see their tweets appear you can retweet the relevant ones.
You can add tweets such as useful tips and advice based on your business knowledge, expertise or experience.
Monitoring your social media presence
Once you are actively engaged with your social media profiles you can use certain software
apps or tools to help you monitor and manage your presence. This can be done on your PC,
laptop, tablet or smart phone. Such Twitter apps include the likes of Tweetdeck or Hootsuite
You will be able to setup streams or timelines and see what Tweets are appearing, what
they are saying and whether its worth retweeting or engaging with.
Develop good content and focus on what interests you
When you have developed and implemented a full blogging and social media plan then the fun really starts.
From then on you need to create good interesting content for posting on your website and sharing
through your social media channels. This content should be of interest to you first of all and then
of interest your followers so they may share and comment upon.
Obviously write on the areas or topics you know about and look to share
your knowledge and experience with others.
Integrate traditional marketing and Social media marketing
You can also include your full social media profile addresses on all your printed
stationery and business promotion materials. Any branding on your profiles
should match your traditional print and web branding and this will fully integrate.
The B2B networks team
