Recently I wrote about claiming and optimizing your Google Places page and analyzing and improving your website. Today we are going to explore some of the top social media sites and what you can do to use them to grow your business.

There are literally hundreds of social media websites available online today. In fact, besides all of the official “social media” sites, there are literally millions of sites that have integrated social sharing options.

Arguably, the top 3 social media sites today are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, with the new Google+ gaining ground fast.

So, the next step to getting your online house in order is to get your social media presence set up and optimized.

Facebook

Although Facebook was originally set up for individuals, they opened things up to businesses a few years ago. From a business perspective you can set up a Facebook page for your business so you can separate your personal life from your business life. Setting up a page is pretty simple. Facebook has even created a site called Facebook for Business which will help you not only with Pages, but Ads, Sponsored Stories and the Facebook platform.

According to the site there are essentially four steps to growing your business with Facebook pages; 1) build your page, 2) engage your customers, 3) grow your community, and 4) learn and grow. For more indepth help with your pages, they have created a guide called Building Your Business with Facebook Pages (pdf opens in a new window) that talks about strategy, best practices, encouraging fan participation and building connections.

For some real world examples check out this monster post about optimizing your Facebook pages from Lori Taylor at Social Caffeine.

Twitter

Twitter is really a micro-blogging platform that allows you to follow others you are interested in and they can follow you back. Twitter, unlike Facebook, allows you to follow people without becoming their friend. For this reason Twitter is a great place to begin your social media journey. It’s been likened to a cocktail party. You find people that are having conversations you are interested in and you listen. When you have something of value to add you can reply and begin a conversation with the people you are following. In turn, they can follow you back and you can start to build the relationship from there.

Hubspot recently released a new ebook called How To Use Twitter for Business – An Introductory Guide (you’ll need to provide a little bit of information to download this one). This guide includes in introduction to the basics and terminology used with Twitter and goes on to show you ways to optimize your profile and then helps explain how you can use Twitter to develop and promote your brand, interact with your customer base, track what people are saying about your brand, create buzz for upcoming events, promote content on your blog, develop relationships and generate sales leads.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn was actually created as a business networking site and has done a very good job of sticking to their core business plan. There are still some best practices you can implement to get the most out of your participation on this platform.

LinkedIn has put together a series of short videos to show you how to use LinkedIn to grow your business. These videos look at how different types of companies can use LinkedIn to get exposure for your company, connect with others, spread your message and build a team of world-class professionals.

To build on that, last week I read an article from Search Engine Land on How to Use LinkedIn to Improve Organic Visibility. It shows step-by-step how to get the most benefit from having a company page on LinkedIn.

Google+

Google+ is the new kid on the block when it comes to social networks, but it is, of course, a part of the Google family of products and services, so it has a lot of strength behind it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be the best. We’ve seen products from Google come out with a lot of fanfare and then dissipate just a quickly. However, to date, Google+ is the fastest growing social network ever launched.

A friend and social media expert, Shama Kabani of Marketing Zen has put together Google Plus: A How-To Guide (pdf opens in a new window) that will provide you with a quick and concise overview of this new platform.

As of the writing of this article, Google+ is still by invitation only. So, if you’d like to try Google+ send me your name and email and I’ll send you an invitiation and we can connect there.

If you have anything you would like to add, please do so in the comments below.

Still have questions? Put those in the comments too and I’ll be glad to answer them.

To your success!
Ken Partain

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I read today over at SmallBusinessNewz.com that FourSquare has opened their business pages to all businesses big and small. In the past, FourSquare has handled all of the development of the business pages and has only done it for larger organizations.

This is a great opportunity as a small business owner to get more involved in Foursquare and promote your business. It allows you to interact just like individual users as far as checking in, posting tips, adding friends and just connecting at a deeper level with your followers.

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Today Google announced that they have rolled out Social Search.  It’s now available to all users who are signed into Google.  This is something that has been talked about recently but nobody really knew exactly how it would work.  As with all things Google they will be constantly tweaking it as time goes by.

There are a lot of interesting implications to Social Search so we will see how this all plays out. I think it’s pretty amazing that when I search for information about a new movie or a restaurant in town I could see reviews, blog posts and other content from people I know, like and trust.

This will have a direct impact on companies who are not paying attention to their online reputation management and addressing concerns in a positive way.

If you are a small business owner it’s time to take the reigns of this use it to your advantage.

To your success,
Ken Partain

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I just sent out our January Monthly Marketing Newsletter.  The focus this month is on Social Media Marketing.

There are lots of links to helpful information so check it out and let me know what you think.  You can leave your notes in the comments section below.

If you would like to have the newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, use the signup form in the right column to register.

Have a great day!

To your success,
Ken Partain

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Thanks again to Mark Isherwood for submitting his Top 3 Online Marketing Questions.

Yesterday I answered his question, Do Traffic Exchanges Really Work?

Today’s question is:

Can you really expect good marketing results from Twitter? It would seem that you are only marketing to those who follow you.

The short answer is yes, you can expect good marketing results from Twitter, but you need to learn how to use it properly.

You see, Twitter is just a tool and there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of different tools available to you in order to market yourself and your business more effectively.

The great thing about Twitter is that it is a giant online conversation.  I’ve heard it compared to a cocktail party or happy hour at the bar.  There are different conversations going on around you, and based on your interests, you can step up and get involved in any of them.  If you’re shy, this might seem a bit akward in person, but it’s totally expected on Twitter.

You can find conversations you are interested in by using the Twitter Search tool.  Just type in the topic you are interested in and you’ll find people who are talking about it.  Then, all you need to do is follow them to keep up with what they are saying.

I think where people go wrong with Twitter is that they try to use it as a direct marketing tool by always promoting their own stuff.

Well, nobody is going to follow you for long if all you talk about is you and your business.

Treat it like a real conversation and listen to what others say and then help promote them to your followers, which addresses the second part of your question.

When you tweet about something, you’re not just talking to your own followers, you’re potentially talking to their followers and their followers and so on.  In essence you have a global audience.  If you are sharing quality content and information it’s going to get passed around.

People like doing business with people they know, like and trust.  Use Twitter to build relationships and the money will flow.

For more information about using Twitter for business, check out this handy guide created by Twitter called Twitter 101 for Business.  Be sure to read the Case Studies and look through the Other Resources for additional ideas about using Twitter for Business.

Tomorrow I’ll answer Mark’s third question, “Is Google Adwords still the top marketing tool?”

To your success!

Follow Me on Twitter

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Thanks to Rebecca Romo of SHA Insurance, a Life and Health Insurance Agent in Allen, Texas, for being the first person to submit her Top 3 Online Marketing Questions.

Here are the answers to your questions, Rebecca.

How do you make your business successful online?

As with most questions this broad, the answer is really “it depends”.  It depends on what type of business you are in and what your objectives are.

However, there are several things any small business can do to improve their online presence and help connect with their target market.

1. Establish a web presence.  You can do this several ways, but the most important way, in my opinion, is to have a web site that you control.  With our own website you have full control over the content of the site, how it is marketed, how well it is optimized, etc.
2. Get your business listed in relevant online directories.  There are a multitude of online directories, both free and paid, that you can list your business with.  Some of them, such as MerchantCircle, are a very good alternative if you absolutely can’t afford to build your own web site as I mentioned in #1.  We offer Local Search Engine Business Profiles that are very well optimized for local search and provide a good snapshot of your business, not to mention they are very inexpensive.
3. Get involved in Social Media and Social Networking even if you don’t have the first clue about how to proceed.  Get yourself listed with sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and slowly learn more about each one and how you can use it to connect with your target market and grow your business.

What is your favorite part of online marketing?

This seems to be a more personal question and my answer is optimizing small business websites.  I love seeing a company go from generating very few, or in some cases absolutely no leads from their website, to generating a consistent flow of quality leads because of the work we do.

Search engine rankings are not the be all, end all anymore.  With the introduction of Universal Search and Personalized Search from Google, evey single person could get different search results when looking up the same keyword phrase.  Therefore, the only true measure of how effective your optimization is, is whether or not your business improves as a result.

If you had to start marketing online again, what would you do differently?

I’ve done a few projects in the past where I just leaped out, spent a bunch of money on image stuff like logos, letterhead, business cards, etc. only to find later that the market either wasn’t there, or wasn’t willing to pay for the services we offered.

If I had it to do again I would do more market research before spending a bunch of money developing a web site and other materials.  I would start with some of the free tools available online and find out if there was a need for my idea and how big of a potential market there was for our product or service.

Then I would do everything I could to keep expenses to a bare minimum and not make any long-term obligations until the business started picking up steam.

I’d love to hear your comments and thoughts.

To your success!

Ken Partain

Follow Me On Twitter

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Here’s your chance to ask your top three online marketing questions and get practical answers that you can put to work immediately.

Your questions can be about anything related to search engine marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, social networking, local search, etc.

I’ll be posting the answers here on my site. When I answer your questions, I’ll give you credit for the questions along with a link back to your web site (if you would like).

Please complete the form below and check back soon for your answers.

Thanks for your participation.

To your success!
Ken Partain

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One question I get quite often from clients and prospects is “how do I make time to manage all this new social media and social networking stuff?”

Well, I found a great article over at Mashable today that gives 6 steps to Simplify Your Social Media Routine.  Enjoy, and get out there and get involved.  You never know where it might take you.

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I have recently launched a new program where I will be working closely with 10 companies who have a strong desire to grow their online presence and improve their online marketing efforts.  This program is not for the meek or those just playing around with online marketing.

There are three levels to this program, Bronze, Silver and Gold.  The primary difference between them is the level of optimization your web site will require and the number of articles that need to be written to bring your site to the top of the natural “organic” search results.

Each plan includes optimizing your web site and writing two to four articles about your company and/or industry, one of which is a press release submitted through PR Web.  It includes a targeted link building campaign and directory submissions to both paid and free directories.  The program also includes unlimited email support and 2-3 hours of one-on-one phone consulting per month to discuss successes and strategies going forward.

If you are serious about taking your company to the next level online give me a call today to discuss this further.  My number is 1-877-334-8022, extension 704.

To your success,

Ken Partain

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