Okay, so you've got a Facebook page for your business, you've started a Twitter account, and you're all hooked up on YouTube. Now what? How is all this social networking going to help you get what you ultimately need - sales leads? While having a social media presence is essential for modern businesses, creating accounts is only the beginning of what you need to do. Your social media visitors need to get a sense of your brand, of what kind of company they're dealing with, and of how your product or service can enrich their lives.
Peg McDermott
The world of social media can often seem like a free-for-all. Sure, social media gives customers a venue to sing your praises, which can lead to higher sales and a stronger reputation. The danger, of course, is that unhappy customers or visitors can take it upon themselves to post negative feedback about your business in a way that could be very damaging. This is one of the major reasons to monitor your brand very closely online.
If you are working with partners, associates, or employees in your business, there's no point in trying to pretend that the use of social media won't get complicated at some point. It's one thing when someone in the organization says something unacceptable in the office and it is dealt with internally, but when someone in your company says something unacceptable on the internet, the implications are much greater. Not only does it have the potential of being seen by millions of people, but it can have long-lasting consequences. Once an ill-advised tweet or Facebook update is out there, it's out there, and even if it gets deleted, often by that time it's too late and the damage is done.
If you spend any of your free time on the internet, chances are you have a personal Facebook account, Twitter account, and maybe a few other accounts here and there. If you're also using social media for marketing your business, then you probably have separate accounts set up under your company's name, as well. Regardless of whether you're a sole proprietor or have an office full of employees, someone has to be running your social media accounts, updating and responding to activity. That someone may be you, or it may be an associate.
Great information for all you Facebook Fan Page newbies!
I frequently give talks to various business groups on the best way to use social media to build awareness around your business 
and drive targeted leads to your website. When I begin, I see a few (okay, many!) skeptical faces in the audience and most of that skepticism is because of the technical overwhelm many feel when starting out in this new digital frontier. Many just don't know where to begin and get stuck in analysis paralysis and then end up not doing anything.
A great article from Marketing Profs on how marketers are using web data to make their marketing campaign decisions...
I think Slideshare is one of the best online marketing tools out there. Check out this "Get to the Point" article on Four ways to use Slideshare to extend your online marketing reach...good stuff!
It’s fairly well known that a solid social media strategy is very effective in raising awareness around a brand. What is less known, is that social media also serves as a powerful tool in search engine optimization. Today, search engines can index or “crawl” and rank a Facebook fan page, a LinkedIn professional profile, blog…
Here is a great article from Marketing Profs on a subject that is becoming an increasingly important element of a solid social media strategy: monitoring your company's reputation.
Great advice and a great CHALLENGE for all you bloggers out there...including me...:)