Learn To Use Social Media For Small Business By Watching

Recently, Josh and I have had the opportunity to give our seminar on Inbound Marketing principles in various areas of Northwest Pennsylvania. As a web marketing firm, it is very motivating to see all of the small businesses in our area so interested in using the web and it's abundant marketing resources to grow their businesses. It is also very frustrating that the most common problem is that there is a clear lack of understanding on where to start.

The leading issue we hear from most small business owners or executives is that they are not sure what they should be sharing through social media, how often they should be sharing it, and how it converts to sales. I can certainly understand the apprehension and relate to the hesitation in jumping into Twitter, Facebook, and the other social platforms. No one wants to invest in a black box in hopes of seeing a return.

Learn By Listening and Watching

The best thing to do in getting started with social media is sign up for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn personally and for your business. At the very least reserve your brands' name so that your competitor doesn't steal twitter.com/yourcompany.

Next, find some companies, people, teams, and organizations that are actively using twitter/facebook, and follow/like them. You will be amazed at how much you can learn by simply watching what others are doing in social media.

I recommend following the same brands on twitter and facebook. This way, you see how they differentiate their message between the platforms.

Need Help? Follow These Brands First

Here're some links to some major brands' twitter and facebook pages, as well as ours:

protocol 80, Inc.
http://www.twitter.com/protocol80
http://www.facebook.com/protocol80

Amazon.com
http://www.twitter.com/amazon
http://www.twitter.com/amazondeals
http://www.facebook.com/Amazon
http://www.facebook.com/AmazonInstantVideo
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazoncom-Books/150864087963

Geico
http://twitter.com/#!/GEICO
http://www.facebook.com/geico

UPS
http://twitter.com/#!/ups
http://www.facebook.com/ups

Citi Bank
http://twitter.com/#!/CITI
http://www.facebook.com/citibank

If you would like to follow a big name in your industry, simply google "brand name twitter" or "brand name facebook" and you will likely find them.

We Can Get You Started

If you haven't attended one of our Inbound Marketing Seminars, please feel free to contact us to see when the next one in your area is. It will shed light on many aspects of social media, seo, email marketing and lead generation. We would also be happy to put together a plan for your business on how you can effectively use social media.