1. Don’t Push – Pushing your products or services on people through facebook or twitter will only hurt you.  Think about what are you saying before you post it.  Put yourself in their shoes or imagine if another company did what you are doing, would you care about their product or service? If the answer is no, you probably shouldn’t post it.
2. Don’t Overwhelm – Limit the number of times you post something on the social websites.  You do not want someone to “hide” or de-friend you on facebook because they are tired of seeing your posts.
3. Be Yourself – Yes you are a business, but not everyone wants to hear about your business 24/7.  If one of your client’s has a son on a hometown little league team that is going to the state championship, toss a “Good Luck” to them on your social website.
4. Ask for Testimonials – Most people that are satisfied with your product or service are willing to give you a testimonial.  Next time it comes up, just ask them to give you a shout out on facebook or twitter.  Not only does that person’s friends see their testimonial, but so do yours.  It’s a win-win.
5. Post Pictures – I always say in the web world, “Pictures speak louder than words”.  I obviously think this holds true and if you are a landscaper and just did a yard, post a picture on your wall.  Or if you are a wedding photographer, post a “Thank you for letting me shoot your beautiful wedding” along with a picture and tag that person in your post.

That’s it! Hope it helps!

There is an endless number of social media sites out there.  So how do you decide which to use for your business?

I believe there are 4 fundamental reasons you are using social media sites in the first place.  1.) To draw more traffic to your website, and in return increase sales.  2.) To expand your network of professionals.  3.) To make people aware of your business and what you do.  4.) Keep up with the latest industry trends from other business professionals you meet and network with.

Here are 3 social sites that I believe every business and consultant should utilize to increase their sales and network with professionals in their industry.

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. LinkedIn

It’s true that there may be a few better social sites such as YouTube that fit your specific business better.  But those 3 I feel any business can utilize to bring value to their firm.

Chris Fischesser
Cincinnati Web Designer
chris@cincinnatiwebtec.com

We get asked the question, “How can social media help my company?” a lot throughout our line of work along with “How can I tie social media into my website”.  I’ll try to answer these questions.

What is social media?

What is social media exactly and what are social network websites?  Social networking websites are communities of people who come together through the internet with similiar interests.  For instance, a popular social networking site, LinkedIn, focuses on entrepreneurs and building relationships with people to grow everyone’s business.  Pretty similiar to networking groups in person.

How can social networking help my company?

Coleman-Parkes Research discovered 60% of American citizens used Social Media. Of those 93% indicated business should have a Social Media presence and 85% indicated businesses should interact via Social Networks with their customers. With powerful results such as these, why not impliment a social networking campaign?

The more friends you make in the communities, the more people notice you and your company, the more people visit your website, the more people realize what you do, the more referrals, etc, etc, etc.   Social media in my opinion isn’t about pushing your product/services onto people.  It’s about pulling people into your product/services.  If you have something you feel is of value to people, give it to them.  Most of the time, it’s just knowledge, but that’s all people ask.  The more knowledge you give, the more people trust and value your opinion, and in the long run, the more people that trust your company and products/services.  Whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, a blog, or LinkedIn it all comes down to the same main concepts that I just listed.

Should I incorporate social networking into my website?

Yes, without a doubt.  Search Engine Optimization is a must also, but with the combination of social networking marketing and SEO, your company should see some significant results if done correctly.  Both can be very powerful and both are very different in their approach to drive in more business.

How should I incorporate social networking into my website?

If you are new to social networking, I recommend signing up for a few of the free websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.  There are endless amounts of free social networking websites out there.  Get used to how they operate and how you can benefit from them.  From there, I recommend starting a blog.  Reasoning being is this is where you can centralize everything.  On your blog you can have links to your Facebook account, your LinkedIn profile, and even have your twitter posts shown on your blog.  This also gives you the ability to post something of value that you feel your clients/prospects can benefit from.  Once you have that, if someone asks you a question on Facebook or LinkedIn, you can simply answer their question briefly and say, “If you want more information, feel free to check out my blog here” with a link to your blog.  Now people are not only reading your blog, but visiting your website.

Hopefully this answered some of the basic questions regarding social networking.  I’ll have more to come.  If you have ANY questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

-Chris