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For small business owners seeking to harness the power of social media, the adage ‘look before you leap’ is appropriate before jumping into the social media abyss.  If you have already leapt in and are drowning in the craziness, step back and take a deep breath before proceeding to the following steps:

Revisit Business Goals
Before moving forward, there are times as a small business owner it is wiser to step back and revisit exactly what it is you want to accomplish for the business as a whole. Focusing on amassing social media sites for the sake of putting all those icons on your website may not be in the best interest of the business. In other words, it is important for social media to be aligned directly with furthering business goals and not the other way around.

Assess Human and Financial Resources
One of the benefits of social media is its ability to interact with and receive feedback from consumers.  However, interaction is a two-way street that requires time and attention.  There may also be a financial investment involved for digital asset and content development. Social media is a marketing adjunct that should enhance a business, not drain available resources. It is better to choose only one site and develop it to be aligned with business goals than to overreach and strain resources that could be better used elsewhere.

Choose Social Media Aligned With Target Audience
Social media is a form of content marketing that is geared toward influencing an audience into taking action that will benefit a business.  To be its most effective, it is essential that the social media audience is the same market segment that is targeted by the company. There are a number of demographic considerations such as age, gender and occupation in relation to the company product line or service that impact consumer response.  Research into the demographic draw of various social media outlets will help to ascertain which sites will be the most beneficial to the business. Choose the best match and expand from there.

Draft A Social Media Strategy
Sanity is only a step away when clarity of business goals, available resources and target market sites are incorporated into a planned approach to social media.  All of these elements are essential to determining the content, style and number of social media sites that will be most beneficial to furthering the business.  If resources allow, a variety of sites can be geared toward achieving similar or different goals. The strategy should also address whether the plan will be launched at once or in phases over a period of time.  Planning for measuring benchmark progress should also be included.

A balanced, moderate and considered approach toward social media offers the small business owner the opportunity to yield the benefits without sacrificing flexibility and resources.

All business, whether product- or service-based, is built around an offer.  In the science of language, requests, offers and promises are three acts of speech that allow for coordination of action between human beings.  Offers alone contain all three acts since offers are requests to accept a promise to satisfy a need.  The most effective business offers are those that effectively communicate how a product or service will specifically satisfy a consumer need.  This is the basis upon which all advertising and marketing content should be based.

The power of language lies in its ability to drive behavior.  Perceptions drive behavior and all perception is in language.  Consumer perception drives sales. Most often these perceptions are forged by the language of the offer that is made. This places a great deal of importance on the language that is used in crafting the offer because the purpose of an offer is to evoke a response.  The same can be said for social media.  Social media is an element of content marketing that serves to influence an audience to take action. The most successful social media sites are those that provide content that adds value and/or satisfies one or more needs of a community.

Inherent within an effective offer is knowledge about the audience to whom the offer is made.  This relates to knowing what the audience needs. Social media provides an interactive forum for a business to ascertain what the consumer is looking for, as well as what language is the most effective in communicating an offer.  Social media is most effective in meeting business goals when it serves as a proving ground for the development of rich, value-added content.

Adding digital assets such as images, graphics or video and audio to the social media offer can serve to enhance the ability of the content to evoke a response.  The founders of Facebook constructed their offer around a request for members to join with the promise that they could interact with other online members.  The offer obviously satisfied a need.  As Facebook offered more opportunities for sharing photos, interests, information and the like, their offer expanded in order to satisfy the needs of their members and commensurately their membership expanded as well.

Truth, sincerity and relevance are essential elements when creating a social media offer.  The most well crafted content will fall flat if it is irrelevant or does not ring true to the intended audience. Sincere content in particular, can help to distinguish a social media site from the others, especially if it evokes an emotional response by inserting human interest content.

The most effective social media offers drive behavior by satisfying the needs of a target audience. They are crafted around truthful, sincere and relevant language that can be enhanced with multimedia assets and human interest content.

Social media as a guilty pleasure and social media as a business marketing strategy are two completely different online animals.  Businesses that jumped on the social media bandwagon for fear of missing out on the global phenomenon have generally found their expectations to be unrealized. When fear in any form is the basis for any decision, the outcomes are rarely, if ever, judicious.  Social Media can optimize the online presence of a business in a number of ways, but there are some pitfalls that need to be avoided in order to ensure a successful venture into social networking.

Failure To Formulate A Social Media Plan
Depending upon the size of the business, a failing social media experiment may be attributed to something as simple as trying to put a square peg into a round hole. The larger the organization, the harder it is to incorporate social media into an existing marketing plan.  This may also apply to smaller business enterprises that do not have a  content marketing strategy.  For this reason, a separate and comprehensive social media plan of action should be drafted to set goals and objectives, as well as roles and responsibilities for each division.

Failure To Assess or Allocate Required Resources
Traditional marketing and online marketing may share some core principles, but they are not interchangeable in their approach.  Social media requires constant attention in order to be successful. It is about building online relationships and as with all relationships, they fall apart if left unattended. Allocations for both designated manpower and financial resources need to be established. In the case of a larger organization, this means for every department. For smaller businesses assessing what is possible given limited resources should be considered beforehand, not afterwards.

Failure To Understand Social Media Assets & Limitations
Failing Social Media ventures usually have at its root cause a lack of understanding of the nature and purpose of social media as it relates to business.  Social media began as an experiment in online social networking.  Social Media serves a purpose, but it is not the be all or end all in a content marketing strategy.  A primary asset centers on the ability to interact with consumers and receive feedback in a way that websites cannot provide.

Failure To Engage
Social media is about building relationships and an online community. It is not about generating a larger database, although given the right content and effort, this will be realized. Social media is an excellent opportunity to personalize the online consumer-company relationship.  Successful social media is largely due to what a business is willing or able to invest in both time and effort.

Failure to Add Value To The Consumer
Competition is keen across the entire spectrum of the Internet.  Rich, interesting content that adds value to the consumer will not only draw people to a social media site, but will keep them coming back for more. There is also a greater likelihood that they will recommend the site to their own online communities. Satisfying the needs of a target market with information beyond a product line helps to develop trust which is an asset for realizing online sales.

Failure To Measure Both Quantitative & Qualitative Results
There is no argument that measuring results is critical for a business to determine how well they are achieving their goals and objectives. However, beyond the quantitaitve, a business should also analyze the qualitative results that social media provides. In traditional terms this is called good will. There is no price that can be placed on good will other than it is an important aspect in achieving customer loyalty, another priceless commodity.

As success breeds success so too does failure breed failure. This is primarily the case for businesses that are unsuccessful with their attempts to harness the power of social media. There is no substitute for due diligence when venturing into unchartered terrain. Haste makes waste when jumping in without adequate planning and a thorough understanding of what a new venture entails.

What has your experience in social media taught you?  What gets (or loses) followers for you?

The Internet…if you are in business, you can’t live without it and at times, you can’t live with it. The seemingly endless advances in internet technology challenge businesses of all sizes to be adaptable to change in all forms. For example, online marketing barely existed before the Millennium and in a little over a decade, it has not only exploded, but reinvented itself several times over.

The same can be said for blogs and blogging. Once the domain of diarists, blogs have become an integral part of online marketing strategies. There are two main questions for business owners to ask when considering venturing into blogdom as an online marketing strategy; What are the marketing benefits? and How do I start?

There are four main areas for consideration when weighing the marketing benefits of adding a blog to a company’s online presence:

1. Increased Web Traffic – Once online, a business is in competition on a global scale. The issue for the business becomes distinguishing itself above the norm. A blog can increase company awareness and drive traffic to the website with content that adds value to the readership. If interesting enough, repeated blog hits are far more likely than on a website alone. If the content warrants, there is a high likelihood that the blog posts will be shared, this in turn will drive more traffic. As a marketing tool, a blog can diversify even further with RSS feeds, mass email marketing, social media sites and click-through ad banners.

2. Personalized Online Customer Service- Customer service and satisfaction are commodities that have served to distinguish traditional business concerns for decades. A blog offers the opportunity to personalize the online business-consumer relationship, offering value-added customer service through its content. More invaluable, however, is the commentary from the readers in analyzing and forecasting consumer trends and interests.

3. Community Building – Community is the coming together of individuals who are united by common interests. Inherent within the concept of community is the establishment of trust and loyalty. In the world of business, building a base of loyal customers is a primary goal. A blog offers this opportunity through the interaction it provides with an expanded Internet community. Linking with other blogs, websites and social media sites are effective community building avenues to pursue. This is based on the underlying principles of reach and frequency in effecting a successful marketing strategy.

4. Search Engine Optimization – SEO reigns supreme in the cyber kingdom. A kingdom that, as of December 2009, included 234 million websites, 126 million blogs and 2 billion Internet users. Based on a keyword or set of keywords, search engines literally search for online information. A set of keywords can elicit as many as 1 million responses, therefore, where a website is ranked is of major importance. The top spots are generally paid for, but the greater the requests for a set of keywords, the higher the rankings are raised. As a result, marketing techniques that generate the greatest amount of hits are used in adjunct to a website. A blog is one of these techniques, as are social media sites and interconnected links.

Once the marketing benefits of a blog are understood, the next step involves formulating a comprehensive and strategic online marketing plan. This is especially true if a website is currently the only online presence. Prior to implementation, there are four primary factors that should be addressed in the planning process.

1. Goals – Clarity of purpose is essential for any new endeavor. Establishing goals and benchmarks for the online marketing plan as a whole, as well as each online presence within the plan, is the starting point from which the other factors will be addressed. At the core is the desire to strengthen and grow the business. It is important to question how a blog or other online venues need to be approached and planned for, in order to achieve this goal. This will also determine what type of content will be focused upon in each area.

2. Time – This incorporates the time involved in setting up the blog, writing the content, when and how often it will be published, responding to comments, plus tracking and analyzing responses. All of these elements are to be considered with every online expansion, such as social media sites, guest blogging and the establishment of links. An overall ramp up schedule for the implementation and execution of each online presence is critical to this process.

3. Resources – The budgeting and forecasting of financial and human resources is vital to the planning process. Consistency is one of the elements necessary for a successful blog. It is better to publish less frequently and ramp up, than it is to take on too much and fall behind, or even close down. This includes expanding into other online ventures such as social media. The budgeting process opens the door for a number of decisions including what type of blog platform to use and how much to allocate towards paid advertising, blog posts and search engine optimization.

4. Content – Content is the single most important factor for drawing readers to a blog and keeping them coming back for more. Content should be aligned with the purpose of the blog. Is it to serve as expert advice in a particular industry? As value-added information for the consumer? A vehicle to provide additional service, including discounts to its customers? To be as effective as possible, choose what you know best and form your content around it. The greater the authenticity, the better the impression you will make on your readers.

Do you have any blog concerns you would like addressed?

Boost Your Small Business with Strategic Blogging

Blogging is not just for ranters anymore. More than a soapbox, when properly utilized, blogs become a powerful marketing tool. They can drive traffic to your site, develop leads and contacts, and establish a sense of rapport and community with readers who them become customers. Here are some ways to get the most out of your business blogging.

The personal stuff

1. Establish a blogosphere presence. Gain credibility. Read related blogs and make insightful comments. Become a part of the community by spurring and participating in discussions. The more you post insightful (as opposed to self-promoting) comments, the more aware of you and your blog both the authors and readers become. With your consistency, they will identify you as a voice of authority in your chosen niche. Most importantly, do so with character. Be positive. Be respectful. Never berate another person or use profanity. Both are unprofessional and reek of immaturity. Rudeness is a sure-fire way to send readers running the opposite direction. Nothing turns off another reader faster than anger and insult. It’s okay to disagree, but do so in a way that invites discussion, rather than the reverse.

2. New discoveries are good. Your discoveries are good. Be excited about them. No matter the subject you choose, be brave enough to write original content. Don’t talk about ‘what’s out there’. Write from your own particular viewpoint. Share things you have learned personally. However, remember you are writing a business blog, so keep out the clutter of your day-to-day. Think to yourself, “If someone asked me how my day went, what would I share?”

3. Reveal your own personality. The business is not writing the blog. Neither is the computer. You are. Allow your personal voice to sound in the readers’ heads. It amazes me how intensely readers come to not only identify with but also feel a sense of ownership to compelling, genuine bloggers. Those are who they follow, whose blogs they must check every day with their morning coffee, whose comments sections they delve into and add to repeatedly. These are the blogs they share on Facebook and Twitter. These are the blogs they personally endorse. Whether you’re writing about marketing strategies, use instructions, or the best way to utilize a particular product or service, be yourself. Know what you’re talking about, but don’t sound like a technical manual. Who actually reads technical manuals anyway?

4. Sound intelligent. Take the time to edit and re-write. All writers live for the times when the words simply flow from their fingertips, as if they are taking dictation. However, I have found that when this happens with me, what comes out is not always coherent. I need to to proof the grammar, spelling and content for it to make sense. What you have to say is important. Do not distract your readers from your ideas with bad spelling and poor sentence structure. Proof your work, and your message will take center stage.

The strategy stuff

1. Redefine your perceptions of blogs. Give blogging grown-up status in your marketing tool kit. Blogs are accessible 24/7/365. They do not intrude on your customer’s time or blare white noise which is easily tuned out. However, they do provide an excellent means of disseminating information. Again, referring to popular keywords, set a content calendar. List different ways each category means something to your business or product and write about it. Set aside time to research and write your blog, rather than ‘when I get around to it’. Add compelling calls to action.

2. Identify your blog’s purpose. Is your blog meant to drive traffic to your business website? Use traffic data to determine the best keywords and content to use in your blog. Are you blogging to generate leads and conversions? Blog about products and services and include links to forms and other calls to action. What about community? Do you want your business or product to get talked about? Write blogs that invite discussion. Be friendly. Ask for comments. Get people believing in you and they will share with their friends. Social Media Examiner delves deeper into this subject.

3. Use captivating headlines. Keep it short, concise, and snappy. Some bloggers take an irreverent approach. If that suits your personality and your target demographic, go for it. However, establish a line you won’t cross and stick with it. Know your audience. Show off your expertise. Don’t call your (or your company’s) maturity into question. Be fun, but not foolish.

4. Get the word out. Use social bookmarking to bring readers to your blog. Every time you post, submit that information to social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and Furl. Remember Twitter and Facebook as high-traffic sites. Include a short but compelling description and the URL.

5. Increase your exposure through guest blogging. Contact bloggers in the same niche and invite them to post on your blog. Ask to write posts for theirs. Make sure links to your blog are included on their page to drive traffic to your site and vice versa. You can find out more about guest blogging etiquette here. Guest blogging can be a win-win situation, but make sure that you choose bloggers of like mind. Again, it goes back to character. In the information age, once data gets out there, there is no calling it back, and it can stick around for a very, very long time. Research your counterpart before you to commit to a blog you will later come to regret. It’s your and your business’s reputation. Protect it.

To sum up

Believe in your business and say it through blogging. Share your excitement by using the mediums both familiar and comfortable to your clients. More and more customers research their decisions, so put your product information at their fingertips. Use keywords and popular content to get grabbed by the search engines, but find new and innovative ways to go about it. Tell the world something it doesn’t know. Remember, your viewpoints are unique, and that is something no other blogger can provide.