Dear Shama…Business Blogging-is it for us?

Dear Shama,

We are an IT company that works primarily with small and medium sized businesses in our local region. However, we would like to spread our wings now and reach more people. Our experts are fantastic. I mean-we know our stuff! However, marketing isn’t our thing. Imagine an office full of geeks (good looking ones), but geeks nonetheless. We are familiar with blogging-we reads lots of tech blogs. Now, we are considering if a business blog may be the way for us to go in order to expand our reach. And if so, how do we start? What do you think?

-IT Studs in Toronto

Dear IT Studs in Toronto,

The simple answer to your question is yes. Yes, you should start a business blog if you are trying to expand your reach. A business blog is a great way to 1) showcase your skills, and 2) to reach a broader audience.

For a beginner’s lesson in business blogging check out How to Create and Manage a Business Blog. As a technical person, you may have the inclination to "optimize" your blog with widgets galore. Resist this urge at first, and focus on writing truly solid content. How-to posts do well in the business blog world. You will need to reach out to fellow bloggers, and friends and family to get initial traffic on the website. Also, put your blog address on your business cards and in your email signatures. You will need all the traction you can get when starting out.

I also recommend getting a subscription to Word Tracker and optimizing your posts with keyword rich content. This will help drive organic search engine traffic to your blog, and it will will help Google index your pages faster. Last but not least, have patience.  A business blog takes time to build and sustain, but the efforts are well worth it in the long run.

Best of Luck!

-Shama

Posted in Business Blogging, Dear Shama Letters, Marketing Tools for Your Service Business, Marketing Your Business | No Comments »

Extreme Facebook Profile Makeover

I have been using Facebook for over two years now, and I have realized that your profile is really the key to a successful social media strategy. It is at the heart of your entire online marketing strategy and needs to be consistent and clear.

Inspired by the Thanksgiving spirit, and the questions I keep receiving in regards to social media marketing, I am going to start doing Extreme Facebook Profile Makeovers. I will do one a week. (Please note that I reserve the right to do them more or less frequently, depending on demand), and I invite you to join in with your comments as well. The best efforts are group efforts.

If you want to sign up, the ONLY way to sign up is by leaving a comment on this blog post. Be sure to include the link to your Facebook profile. Please make sure that your Facebook profile can be viewed by the public. It takes time if I have to add you as a friend , wait for you to accept, and then get access to the profile.  Please don’t send me an e-mail — leave a comment. Yes, it will be public, but then so will this makeover and your Facebook profile. The idea is to get you and your business more positive exposure. And yes-it will be on a first come, first serve basis.

Posted in Marketing Tools for Your Service Business, Marketing Your Business, Social Media Marketing, Web Entrepreneur Community | 7 Comments »

3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Use Social Media Marketing

In the past two posts, I have laid out strategies to leverage Facebook. Today, I am going to backtrack a little and give you three reasons why you should not be using Social Media Marketing.

Reason 1- It’s not part of your marketing strategy- It is not worth the effort to play around with social media marketing. It could easily backfire if you don’t know what you are doing. If you are serious about building a community around your brand, then plan it out. Make it a part of your comprehensive marketing plan. Set quantifiable goals. If you don’t have a plan set, you might find yourself spending hours "wandering" online. Now, there is nothing wrong with testing out the field. In fact, that is some what necessary. However, make sure you have a specific amount of time set aside that serves as your testing phase.

Reason 2- You don’t care about building a community- If you aren’t interested in increasing your brand recognition or networking online with others, social media marketing is not for you. Social media marketing is first and foremost about building your brand identity and then about creating a community around that identity. You have to reach out, share your information through an online platform, and educate people. If you aren’t comfortable doing these things, you should not use social media marketing.

Reason 3- You are participating because it’s a trend. Social media marketing may be in the forefront now, but that doesn’t mean its the only reason you should jump on the bandwagon. Trends come and go, and although they can boost your efforts in the short run, it requires a long term commitment to really see a return on investment.

Do use social media marketing as a strategy if it is part of your bigger marketing plan, you want to build a community around your brand, and are willing to see it as a long term commitment.

Posted in Social Media Marketing, Web Entrepreneur Community | 2 Comments »