Thursday, July 21, 2011

Social Media Networking & Marketing Advice


With more and more home-based businesses starting and using social networking to market their products, it's good to have a few tips on how to work these free advertising venues.

1. Follow the rules. If you join a group or website that has rules, then follow them. When you break rules, you are a trouble maker, not a revolutionary. Other group members will think, know, you're just there for marketing and don't care enough to learn about the group and support its members. Ultimately, you might even be banned from the group and your company becomes the one that was kicked out of the circle. You lose because groups have valuable information and even potential customers.

2. Don't steal friends. To sit there and go through another businesses friends' list is down right rude. Facebook and twitter have made it easy for you to find people who share similar interests, add them if you want more followers. If you're just starting out and all of sudden you have all the same friends as another shampoo maker, something just doesn't seem logical even with the friend suggestions. Plus, their customers will be quick to call you on it. Instead do the work to get friends, that way you're adding slower and actually get a little inkling of who the person is.

3. Don't abuse tagging. Don't just randomly tag people that you really don't know. Yes, the site is free and you can do what you like, but it costs you in long run. Would you want other businesses tagging you and filling your pages with their items? When you start tagging it becomes a two-way street. Will you be happy, jealous, or angry when your friends start liking and buying from those who tag you and link on your pages? You have your pages so link them from your blog or website, cross-feed twitter and facebook, and suggest your fan page to friends. Also, if you want to get an item noticed by others, then share a post/link from your business page and tag yourself. That way whoever is following you will see it in their feed. It's just that simple.

4. Give, interact, and be thankful! Try to interact with other companies and your customers while giving them something useful. If you have a little advice or a product you like, share it. Be sure to check your pages and tweets for comments to answer questions and give thanks for compliments and retweets. And when all else fails and you think you have nothing to give, give your services or your product. A give-away is a quick way to get everyone excited, including yourself!

What this all boils down to, is don't be lazy. If you really think about it, all it takes is time and a little effort to reply, say thank you, post a link, and network. That little effort really does pay off if you are consistent. When you take short-cuts you will come up short.

What advice do you have for promoting your business on social media outlets?

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

No Comments - It's Ok.

A few times I've read blogs about people not getting comments and how they feel nobody supports them. Or that AfroMyNaturalHairIsHotFireAndI'veBeenBloggingForManyYears has a clique and they comment on everything she posts. When I first saw these 'comment on my blog posts' I felt pity for the blogger. Then it sort of looks desperate, demanding, and ungrateful. So, I offer a little advice on blogging.

1. Don't start the blog just to get comments, become popular, or make money. If your heart is not in it, you will be easily discouraged when things are moving slowly.

2. Give it time. It takes a while time to build a blog following.

3. Show yourself. If you have a make-up blog, don't just copy/paste the make-up all the time. Show yourself in it. Do a slideshow or video with you putting on the make-up. Sharing a recipe? Have somebody snap a photo of you or you take one of somebody eating it.

4. Ask questions or opinions! Folks love to talk, but sometimes need to be given the mic to speak up.

5. Bring people to your blog. If you have facebook & twitter and the rest of them, tell people that you have a new blog post.

6. Don't look pitiful, ungrateful, or desperate. Always, be welcoming, humble, and helpful.

This is a repost from my other blog carmennc.blogspot.com