Build Brand, Generate Sales

5 proven tips for using social media effectively

October 23, 2009
Edited by: Ken Beaulieu in: Online Advertising Tips

An Internet presence is crucial for building a business and reaching potential customers. Social media sites provide an easy way to build your brand and network with customers and are also a strong, no-cost online advertising technique. It’s a tactic that every company should strongly consider.

However, if you don’t know how to harness the power of social networking, you can be left out in the cold, says Steve Fretzin, founder and president of Sales Results Inc, a national sales training company established in 2005. To make the most of social media and create an Internet presence that will keep your business thriving in a down economy, Fretzin offers these tips:

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Understand what you’re looking to accomplish. Many business owners jump into social media without a plan. Are you looking for more sales or to build your brand? Going in blind is never a good idea. Develop a strategy that makes sense for your business.
Take an hour to find the right social media site for your business. Thanks to Google and other search engines, it doesn’t take much effort to find a tutorial on the social media site you’re interested in. You don’t want to realize too late that, for example, Facebook is a huge time waster for your business.
Get LinkedIn. If you decide to use LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network, be sure to keep these tips in mind:create a complete and sophisticated profile; have a strategy for building your network (larger networks provide more contacts, but they may not get you in the door as well as a tight-knit group); use the advanced search tool to target the industries or companies that will get you the best results in less time.
Send Tweets. To make the micro-blogging site Twitter work for you, you must follow people to get a following. The more people who follow you, the better chance you have of building your brand. If no one is following you, the tool may have limited applications for your business.
Put a face on your business. When using Facebook, it’s easy to get sucked into the personal side of the site. But reconnecting with old friends and former coworkers can help you network your way to the top.