I did a talk tonight for a local non-profit group and most were very interested in social media and others couldn’t understand 
what all the fuss was about. Fuss indeed. Whether we like it or not, the social media train is fast, it’s here, and it’s not going away. Those businesses and non-profits that see the value in using the tools of this new digital frontier will enjoy the benefits of the organic growth a strategic social media campaign can generate. In the social sphere, there are many ways to generate business using social media and we’ll start with some simple blogging strategies to follow :
Blog consistently – it’s a great way to position yourself as a thought-leader and differentiate your business from your competitors. Start off by subscribing to a few blogs that interest you and get a feel for how other businesses are using this tool to promote their brand and expertise. Great place to start might be your competitors – believe me, there are a few out there who get it. The more consistently you blog, the easier it gets and the more likely you’ll develop a following or get your content shared.There is also tremendous search optimization value to your site when you blog so always include link resources back to your site.
Make it easy for others to share your content by adding a “share” button to your blog and website. You can find more info on that here:
http://tellafriend.socialtwist.com/?fh
http://sharethis.com/publishers/getbutton
Other resources:
The Weblog Handbook: Practical Advice on Creating and Maintaining Your Blog by Rebecca Blood
Blogging For Dummies by Susannah Gardner and Shane Birley
More on generating business leads using social media next week!
