Are you tired of trying to figure out how to market your business online?
Are you overwhelmed at the thought of growing your list and attracting more clients because it seems like an impossible task?
Don’t worry – you’re not alone.
Almost all of my clients feel this way, until I show them the easiest way to increase their online visibility.
And guess what – it’s not hard! And it’s actually fun.
I know what it’s like to dread marketing online.
I struggled when I started TekMiss in 2007.
I knew I had a lot to share, but the LAST thing I wanted to do was begin writing reports and dissertations every day, or every week.
When I write a formal paper, I have to concentrate and keep a dictionary close by. I’m one of those folks who has to reeaach for big words, and then I don’t feel comfortable unless I look up the meaning to be sure they’re being used correctly.
But then, a funny thing happened on the farm… literally!
I was living up in Wisconsin on a farm, just two years ago… taking care of my mother-in-law. I’m from Wisconsin and I was going stir crazy – especially since we did NOT HAVE CABLE.
Man oh man, I realized that I am not a country girl any more. Not that
I ever really was… but now that there’s the internets and cable TV, let’s face it – I’m citified.
Back to what happened.
I began to write blogs and Facebook status updates about my life on the farm.
I was desperate to communicate, so all pretenses were down.
I uploaded pictures of the massive amounts of snow and ice we were experiencing.
I uploaded a picture of a possum that made a home just outside my “office” window.
And guess what? People responded.
My contacts wanted to now what I was up to.
They wanted to know when I was coming back to Columbus. And they wanted to make appointments.
And voila! My business took off.
And I was hooked on Social Media.
So, here are my steps to having fun and GROWING YOUR BUSINESS with Social Media.
1. Be Yourself. Be your true authentic self. Share personal stories. Give people an idea of who you are and what you’re interested in.
2. Be Discerning. As you open your kimono, so to speak, do it with some caution. I don’t think you should try to be something you’re not by any means. However, if you love hunting, or you’re a tree hugger, or you love Jesus – make SURE you want that to be PART OF YOUR BRAND. Once you put it out there on the internets – there ain’t no turning back!
3. Be Conversational. Write like you are talking to a friend. Just a few months ago, I’ve started to say “hello” or “happy day” on Facebook almost every week day. I’m always positive and people love it! I don’t shove platitudes or mindless quotes out there for no reason. I feel like I’m saying hello to a good friend!
4. Write Down 12 Topics. This will give you a whole year of cirriculum. You guessed it, 1 topic per month. For each topic, you can come up with at least 4 sub topics – and that’s a month! What are your Battle Cry’s? What do you tell people over and over and over? You can milk each one of of your “Battle Cry’s” for at least a month.
5. Leverage Your Content. When you write a blog, paste the headline and a snippet into Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. They will automatically create a link right back to your blog. Your traffic WILL go up if you’re persistent. Get an email marketing program like MailChimp or iContact and paste part of your blog into a newsletter. Get an account with Ping.fm and put in all of your Social Media sites so you can post in one place and it broadcasts out to all of them.
And #6, because I like to go the extra mile… Use other people’s content. There are a ba-zillion articles, videos, cartoons and blogs on the internets. Share what you find interesting. NO, DON’T PLAGIARIZE! Always link back to the person, place or thing that you’ve quoted, give credit where credit is due. ALWAYS!
Have fun. Be real.
If you don’t love what you do, it will be hard to be successful.
But guess what? If you love paisley patterns, you can make a successful business online about that. (I just looked at my paisley iPhone cover that I bought on the internets!)
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