Whatever your small business Web presence, social media offers you the opportunity to boost awareness of your brand online through discussion and interaction.
Here are three simple ways to get the discussion going and give your online brand some increased visible by simply sharing with your community.
1. Get a discussion going around your brand. Ask those in your social media community questions about your brand. This week, for example, I asked BizSugar followers on Twitter how they learned about BizSugar and why they like it. See the questions and answers below:
Q: bizsugar Answer our question for a possible future blog post. How did you find BizSugar.com? #findbizsugar SH
A: BeckyMcCray @bizsugarI’m pretty sure I first heard about BizSugar from @zanesafrit #findbizsugar
Q: bizsugar Do you use BizSugar.com? How does it help your small business? #bizsugarusers
A: SmartyCassie Learn everyday, I gotta stay in the know! RT @bizsugar Do you use BizSugar.com? How does it help your small business? #bizsugarusers
2. Get a discussion going in your niche. Of course, not all the discussion needs to be about you directly. Here are two examples of how to start a discussion in your niche and further engage your social media followers getting them involved with your brand:
Q: bizsugar What are your top small business tools? We’d love to hear. SH #smallbusinesstools
A: TheBizBFFs RT @bizsugar: What are your top small business tools? We’d love to hear. #smallbusinesstools / we love @eVoice @eFax @Intuit Quickbooks
A: PervasiveDS Our customers use QuickBooks and Salesforce! RT @bizsugar: What are your top small business tools? We’d love to hear. #smallbusinesstools
Q: bizsugar What’s your number one piece of small business advice? #businessadvice
A: IrishSmiley @bizsugar Be you! #businessadvice
A: SmartyCassie Over project how much $$ u will need. RT @bizsugar: What’s your number one piece of small business advice? #businessadvice
A: GrowthCoachCorp The Growth Coach @ @bizsugar You are really in the business of MARKETING…stop being a technician and learn to be an expert in marketing. #businessadvice
3. Share news and resources. Last but most definitely not least, become a trusted source of information in your industry. Here at BizSugar.com, we maintain a BizSugar Facebook page for members where we share valuable small business news and information from contributors and BizSugar itself provides a social media platform where online small businesses can share small biz tips, strategies and news with a large, engaged and growing community for free building their brand and growing traffic to their Website in the process.
There are many ways to build brand for your business online, but social media remains one of the cheapest and most effective. Building relationships while you build your business allows others to get to know the real business behind your company name and Website and decide whether they would like to work with you! 🙂
(Shawn Hessinger is chief moderator and blogger for BizSugar.com, a social media site providing news and information to the online small business community. For more on BizSugar community how to submit your own small business content to the group, check out our “about” page or visit our BizSugar signup page to create your free account today.)
Thanks for honing in on these key touch points. Great post!
Great advice. The first one is probably a little scary for people – even for me, and I know that my Twitter fans at one of my accounts are active and would respond. Yet there is always going to be that, “Am I crazy for doing this?!” moment.
The third one is great, and it’s what I call trend blogging or trend micro-blogging. It’s a magnet for new engagement or at least new readers. Doing that while blogging can bring a number of new visitors from search engines who might not otherwise have visited your site!
Hi Shawn….great information. Very concise and easy to read. I will be sure to employ your tips and suggestions.
Hi Shawn – I remember we had a Twitter interview a few months back and I guess, these days, if you want to learn how people look at your brand – all you have to do is ask. As in ‘tweet…and you shall receive’ – which is great for those who are doing market research on a shoestring budget. In the end, authenticity rules when it comes to having a winning brand. I think Richard Branson will have to agree with me here. Cheers! -marissa @ garious
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