7 Ways to Make Your Business More Social

Everyone seems to be touting the magical powers of social media. If you are going to use social media as a part of your marketing strategy, you should definitely have a plan in place.

The fundamentals of social media are to provide valuable information to your online community so that they consider you an authority in your industry. To get there, is a long road. When you start in social media, you have an audience of zero and it takes time to grow that to a substantial number and an active online community.

It can often seem overwhelming to get your company on track with becoming more social. Here are 7 things you can start doing today to establish your business online, in the age of the social internet.

1. Add people to your About Us Page – Step one for being social, is actually being people. Human beings run your business and make it what it is, embrace that. Your About Us page is probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular page on your website. Why? Because when people are deciding on who they want to do business with, they want to know who they are working with. So why do we continue to hide our employees behind an overly technical company description?

Showcase your staff with professional photos of them and bios that showcase their expertise, education and interests. By letting potential customers know your staff, you are essentially lowering their online risk of doing business with you. People want to do business with people. Let your people be more of a part of your business.

2. Create Company LinkedIn Page – LinkedIn is one of the best Social Networking sites for B2B companies. LinkedIn was created in 2003 as a networking site for businesses. LinkedIn won’t blur the line between personal and professional like other sites, because it is a site geared towards business only.

If you haven’t already, create a Business Listing for your company on LinkedIn. Be sure to add all of your specialties and a good keyword dense description of your business. LinkedIn carries a lot of weight with search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.), so if someone is searching for something, they could easily stumble on your business listing on LinkedIn over your own company website. After your company page is added, have your entire staff claim the company page as their current employer.

3. Make Your Blog a Social Hub – Don’t approach each social media site and update as a stand-alone event. Make sure all of your social media efforts are connected and consistent.  Consider each tweet, status update or post to be a mini-marketing message not just assorted ramblings and musings. Give each of your social media efforts a home base, like your blog.

Blogs are easy to update with relevant information and an excellent place to point your social media content to. As you publish content on your blog, spread the word by posting blog posts on all of your social media sites. Having your blog as your social media hub is also a good way get a general idea of the amount of traffic your social networking is getting you and a good way to build blog subscribers. Make sure your blog has an easy way for people to contact you for more information as well, turn those website visits into sales leads!

4. Define and stick to your niche – Want your business to really stand out from everyone else? Define a niche that your company is best at and own that space online. With social networking sites it is easy to get distracted and off topic. Remember your niche and really focus on those topics. We live in the age of information overload – pick one small space and really focus on it!

5. Choose a social media site, own it and commit to it – Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to join every social media site under the sun. Ask your audience (your customers, partners, leads, friends etc.) what communities they are participating in. Join only the online communities that matter and stick to them.

The owner of our company is only on LinkedIn, he owns that space. He takes a few minutes each day to participate and we have seen significant traffic, some sales leads and gotten business from his LinkedIn participation. Owning one space is better than being on 4 social media sites sporadically.

6. Answer Questions on LinkedIn – Again, LinkedIn is designed for business professional like yourself. Some really great conversations and networking is happening in the LinkedIn Question and Answer section. Mark your calendar to try to answer at least one question a week to establish yourself as on online authority in a particular specialty.

7. Take Social Media Seriously – If your social media strategy is treated like an afterthought – the response to it will be lackluster as well. Create goals with a timeline to reach them, a strategy, and budget out the time you will be participating each week. I also recommend creating a social media policy that defines what you, your employees and your online community can and cannot do online. Policies encourage your staff to participate because they know what is and is not expected of them online. Policies also protect your brand, staff and your company.

These 7 steps should definitely get you headed in the right direction. Remember that participating in social media is not a one time event; it is a full commitment to adding this to your routine. Think of your participation as a marathon and not a sprint.

photo credit: Matt Hamm

About the Author

Amanda is vice president of marketing at Hall Web ServicesPrior to Hall, she maintained the websites of local radio stations and managed e-newsletters for Citadel Broadcasting. Today she manages Hall's marketing team and is responsible for social network marketing strategy, implementation, fulfillment, training and validation for corporate clients.