Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Using Social Networking to Grow your Business

Dr. Mike Okouchi

By now you’ve probably heard of sites such as MySpace, Facebook or YouTube, but are you using these tools to grow your small business? In this article I’ll give you some tips on how you can position yourself as an expert within your business niche using social networking tools.

You know that what you offer is spectacular, but if other people don’t know that, you’re going to have a really difficult time growing your business. Social networking platforms such as Facebook.com and Twitter.com allow you to form relationships with people instantaneously. In social networking your connection with people is permission based and you establish your global presence. What other form of advertising can do that and for free? The advantage you have with social media marketing over traditional marketing is that your potential customer gets to know who you are and you begin to build trust. People buy from those they trust.

Here are some basic tips to help you get started using this type of new media:

1. Set up a Facebook profile. Go to Facebook to set up your free profile. A good tip to get you started is to make sure you upload a picture of yourself. Fill in all the basic information about yourself and try to make it as personal as you can. Let others get to know the real you. As you get used to using your account we’ll go over the different applications you add to spice up your profile.

2. Set up a Twitter Account. Go to Twitter.com and set up your free profile. Twitter is a micro-blogging platform where you can send out short messages (140 characters max) to your followers. When you first set up you’ll want to start following as many people as you can to jump into the community. You’ll also want to put out meaningful posts every now and then.

3. Set up a blog. Go to wordpress.com or blogger.com (both are free) to set up your blog. This is where your expertise will really shine. A blog allows you to write short articles on topics pertinent to your customer base. Remember to write articles that have useful content, which make you look like the expert in your industry.

In my next article, I’ll show you how to integrate these tools and begin to use it to your advantage. Till next time, start setting up your accounts and make your presence known in the social networking realm.

Dr. Mike Okouchi is a Doctor of Chiropractic who took his practice from a start up to a well established business in less than 2 years with zero paid advertisements. His office is located in Irvine, CA. At only 28 years of age, Dr. Okouchi has become an avid student of entrepreneurship and strives to help other people build their businesses. Dr. Okouchi states “I love to see good people win especially when they’ve put it all on the line by starting their own business.” You can email him at mike@akdocmike.com. Visit his health blog at www.akdocmike.com or his clinic’s website www.velocitywellnesscenter.com.

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Grassroots Marketing is Dandy

Traci Hayner Vanover

Spring has finally sprung here in Northeastern Indiana. The sun is shining, a warm breeze is blowing, and my backyard has been overtaken by…dandelions. I would swear that they appeared overnight. I got up one morning to take my dogs out, and there they were.

So there I am, gazing out upon this sea of golden weeds when all of a sudden it hit me. Yes, I need a good weed and feed treatment, but you know what else?

We can learn a lot about “grassroots” marketing from those pesky little guys.

Think about all of the little “seeds” you could be planting—press releases, article submissions, direct mail, podcasts and more. Each on its own is certainly powerful, but consider how much more impact these little seeds would have if you were to employ them together. This unified marketing approach packs a punch; prospects will begin to notice that everywhere they look, there you are.

There are so many opportunities out there that can be leveraged for big returns, but you need to know where to look. To help simplify your search, here are a few of my personal favorites:

PRWeb
There are a great many free press release distribution services, but remember what your Mother always said: “You get what you pay for.” PR Web offers an array of services at various price points. In addition, they offer some value-added services such as podcast interviews that you can use later as an additional promotional tool.

Big Boards

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a hundred times. Discussion forums can be a valuable small business resource. Once you’ve identified niche forums of interest, you can set about using them for market research, as well as promotion.

Scribd

Scribd has been referred to as the YouTube™ of documents, and with good reason. Make sure you read their guidelines for submissions carefully, as some overzealous marketers’ abuses caused them to toughen up on what is deemed appropriate to share. You can upload your articles, ezine issues, press releases, and much more.

Ezine Articles

Ezine articles is a treasure trove for publishers in search of content, and this makes it a prime target for your article submissions. All article reprints require that your resource box remains intact, which translates to incoming links each time your article is used.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it offers a good place to start your grassroots efforts. And remember, the strength of this approach is in the combined efforts. The seeds you plant today will soon take on a life of their own, spreading all over the net just like those dandelions in my yard.

Traci Hayner Vanover, aka The Promo Diva®, is an author, copywriter, publicist and publisher. As the publisher of Create the Dream!, a bimonthly digital small business magazine, Traci has a highly-regarded and long-standing reputation for offering quality resources, services and support to the small business community.

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