With social media becoming the mainstream for exposing your business to new eyeballs & staying closely connected with existing relationships you might be asking yourself if it is time to adopt another social network into your tool kit for on-line marketing.
In this blog I am suggesting what I have found to be my experience utilizing seven social networks as a small business owner & my reasoning behind the choices I have made. You need to decide if there are any benefits for you following a specific network and remember the big question “Who is going to be doing the work required.” It is wise to note that every network has a start-up price – Your Time!
If you are not following anyone and no one is following you in return – your time is not being wisely spent in front of the computer. Social media is subliminal marketing to an audience that in most cases does not need your product today, however with time and nurturing your followers will begin to think you ♥
Here are KISS Media’s choices of social networks
Facebook: Heather Clifford has a double social footprint by utilizing Facebook personally and socially. Facebook is the king of social networks today and business pages are being developed and used globally at an astounding rate. My choice for choosing Facebook was an easy one, this is where I have found the most eyeballs.
Twitter: I honestly fall in and out of LOVE with Twitter because at times I don’t believe the peeps using this network are sharing and caring, I have found a lot of spam and yelling. It could also equate to the fact I was handling three accounts and took on too many followers at one time, not building on the relationships I already had. My sister Cathie is the best honest Tweeter I know and does the City of Nanaimo proud. This being said with over 500 million active accounts…I Tweet.
WordPress Blogging: Love blogging and have been doing it for years, when I first started I was blogging about anything to do with Whistler and my blogs were read by over 50,000 people…wow, people can find you and do read anything…. Now I blog mainly for Social Media and to help my students. You are considered the professional on the subject you are blogging about and thus I blog. I can utilize my blogs on Facebook and Twitter as well for more valuable content to share with my followers.
YouTube: Did you realize that Google is the most search website in the world and Google owns YouTube… 1. Google 2. Facebook 3. YouTube
I believe it is wise and fun to utilize video in your social media plan, open a YouTube channel and just start slowly, don’t worry about being perfect, just try to be professional. Once again you can share your videos as valuable content on all your social sites. With over 4 BILLION videos watched daily it is a wise investment of time.
LinkedIn: As a professional in any business you need a LinkedIn account, I have found it hard to maintain all my social sites everyday and do not spend enough time on LinkedIn. You must have a LinkedIn presence. This network has many valuable connective resources that I believe are under utilized by many… me included.
Pinterest: It’s relatively new and very colorful. Apparently it is becoming much more popular with women over men and had a very quick start-up that was by invitation only. I believe this network to be a very valuable resource for any business with a tangible product. As you can offer specials with check-ins. However the more creative a mind you have and time available to you, the more you will be able to create a powerful presence. I’m having fun creating new boards everyday. This might be a great network for real estate listings.
FourSquare: A social check-in game that is really a lot of fun to play and comes with some valuable components if you have a bricks and mortar business. I am playing FourSquare with people from all around the world and there is nothing more powerful than becoming the Mayor of any location, and talking and teasing your competition. Why Not!
These are my social networks by choice, they all took time to build and time to maintain but I introduced each separately and have learned a little balance for using them. Facebook is my strongest marketing tool while all the others play a lessor role but a role none the less…I have built special relationships with each network and have found I am now cross-pollinating and nurturing all of them as time permits…
It’s your turn – Share with us your social choices and why….
Cheers!
My name is Heather Clifford and I live in beautiful Nanaimo where I teach hands on social media clinics in small groups. I am a social media teacher, trainer and consultant who travels throughout BC sharing and caring the social media on-line marketing tools. Have you started your social media business plan yet? Call me for a one on one chat about social media or as a speaker for your team 250-585-6002
