If your business is not involved in social networking, it is missing a key development ingredient. You are missing important contacts, sales, falling behind your competition and not living up to your potential. Getting involved with social networking is easier than you may think. It really is about telling stories, and who doesn’t like a good story?

Start a Blog

Blogging started out as individuals keeping personal online journals. It has evolved into an online phenomenon known as the blogosphere. And, it is not just for amateurs. Many businesses realize the importance of staying in touch with their customers. Blogs give your potential customers a chance to communicate directly with your key personnel. Many blogs contain comment sections that can eventually lead to online forums.

Blogs give your business a chance to develop a more personal relationship with your customers. Instead of reading your company’s financial statements or annual report, for instance, viewers can see how products are developed. They can read your insight into how new products came about and what you are hoping to achieve with them.

* You can post employee accomplishments, philanthropic endeavors and other nonwork-related happenings on your blog. It gives your customers a chance to get a “behind the scenes” look at your business. Everyone likes this.

Be sure to assign a key personnel the duty of regularly updating your blog to keep it from getting outdated. Nobody likes seeing a blog that has not had a post for a year. Start a schedule, such as weekly, to keep everybody abreast about your business happenings.

Remember to list your blog with as many social media sites as possible to increase your awareness. You never know when a viewer will turn into a paying customer.

Include social media site widgets on your blog to make it easy for your readers to share information with their social networking community. This is another great way to increase your brand awareness and business exposure.

Make A Video

Videos play a key role in the social media world. Millions of users daily upload multistreaming videos to sites such as YouTube. Missing out on this marketing tool will play havoc with your business development.

Help your multistreaming video stand out by preparing a Web 2.0 marketing article that contains your keywords. SEO plays a crucial role in getting your business noticed by the search engines. Keywords are what search engines crawlers use to categorize your online presence.

* Practice reading your article before the mirror, or to your associates, before actually recording the video. Remember to speak clearly and enunciate properly so listeners and viewers easily understand what you are saying. Videos work remarkably well for product demonstrations, for instance.

* At the end of your video be sure to include a link to your business website or blog. You want to make it as easy as possible for others to contact you for further information.

Schedule Regular Updates

When getting involved with social media, remember that it will not work on a sporadic basis. It needs to be done consistently to assure your success with developing your business.

Plan on setting aside a certain time slot daily or weekly to update your social media sites, profiles and updates. Have it become part of your work schedule.

Being consistent increases your customers, clients and potential customers’ confidence and trust in you and your business. Everyone likes consistency.

Social media can help you develop your business by bringing in new leads, increasing awareness, improving brand recognition and enhancing the retention rate of your existing. If you feel overwhelmed, contacting a professional may be your best option.

AUTHOR:

Crystal Balker is a freelance writer specializing in the social media field. She has written over 500 published pieces including articles, books and blogs. She writes for Degree Jungle, which provides information for college students.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2012 at 11:07 AM and is filed under Social Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.