Getting Started in Social Media Marketing

Just have a look at that photo to the right. It is filled with the labels of just some of the organizations, business and web sites that are involved in the Social Media Marketing world. Just some! And then they all have interconnections. Seem impossible? It did to me when I first started doing Social Media Marketing. But I took the time, approached the project step-by-step, and am in the process of mastering the challenge.

You can do that, or you can make your life simpler, focus on your business and hire me to do all that work for you. (Yup, that was a plug for me, it is my blog after all and this is what I do for a living, so I had to throw one of those in somewhere).

But whether you use my services or take the do it yourself route, you are going to have to break your Social Media Marketing campaign down into small, doable steps.

The first step may seem ridiculously simple, but taking the time to think about it now will save you grief later. That step is choosing your name.

The choice of your name is critical because what you choose to use as your name is going to represent your brand. It is going to be used on all of your Social Media Marketing platforms to tell the world who you are, what you are about and where you want to go with your viewer.

It is said that the first impression in business is made during your handshake and that you have only 5 seconds to make that impression good. The same applies to your brand name. In this day of information overload, your efforts are going to often be judged by your brand name. Does it reflect what the viewer wants to find? If it doesn't, they are moving on fast.

Sometimes your name is the best brand name. For my art and photography site, I use just www.bradrickerby.blogspot.com.  You might wish to use your name and a professional accreditation. My mother would love it if my brand were, say, www.drbradrickerby.com (alas for her, that brand does not exist). Or you might want a brand name that is memorable, perhaps silly or whimsical and talks a little about what your brand is about. I just opened http://muttsmuttsmutts.blogspot.com.  I'll bet you know what that one is about!

Your brand name should also be short (a rule I violate frequently) because a short brand name will be more memorable and easier to type. And you should be sure that your brand name is available across all the platforms you will be using (typically a blog, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter).

It really is not as complicated as it sounds and you should be able to come up with a brand quickly. But is is important to give it just a little thought.

Next, you need to define the goal of your Social Media Marketing Campaign. I will go into that next.

Social Media Marketing Basics 1

While the number of people participating in the world of Social Media is staggering (about 500 million for Facebook, 300 million for YouTube and say 100 million for Twitter) there seem to be just as many choices to be made, platforms to be considered and tools to be mastered. It is a lot to take in, and learn and try.

Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin all acting as funnels to pass
people through to your blog.

But it really is not as daunting as all that (yes, I just set up my own straw man so I could knock it down). Really, to start, there are only four platforms to consider. These are your blog, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter.

Your blog is your main site. It is where you tell people about you, who you are, what services and/or products you offer, how to find you and your store (either on the web or brick and mortar or both). The blog is the cornerstone of your virtual empire. It is your location on the internet.

There is a lot more to come on your blog and blogging in general.

The other three platforms, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are all conduits. From each platform you are looking to gain Contacts (Linkedin), Followers (Twitter) and Friends (Facebook) or to be Liked (Facebook again).  Once you have made the connection on these platforms you try to move them to your blog. Once there they can discover the complete you and, hopefully, sooner or later, make a purchase of a product and/or service or add value in some way to your business.

This is not as cynical as it sounds at first read through. Business in general is about developing relationships. Twitter. Linkedin and Facebook are simply means to develop a relationship. Moving that relationship to your blog is simply further developing that relationship. You can make a sale at any point in the relationship and there are some relationships that will never lead to a sale.

The first step, therefore, on the road to Social Media Marketing is setting up your blog and accounts with Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. In order to set up your accounts in the most efficient manner possible, you are going to need to define what you hope to gain through your Social Media Marketing efforts (making millions, while an understandable end, is not a great goal to start with). You are also going to need to determine what I will call your voice. Your voice is a coherent, systematic and consistent appearance across all Social Media platforms. Another term for Voice is Brand. I just find the term Brand a little more intimidating.

I will be going through specifics on your blog, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and your Branding or Voice in upcoming posts.

Social Media A Cappella Conference

Having just returned from the Social Media A Cappella Conference (#smacc2011) My excitement about the potential for Social Media Marketing has increased ten fold. I will, as soon as I get my notes sorted out, share many of the ideas, information and statistics learned there with you.  Until I have those notes sorted out, think about this, Social Media has now passed pornography as the number one use of the internet.