Brogan's Tips for Social Media for Business

Brogan came up with some very handy tips for using social media for a business.

To begin, he poses the question: "What are you trying to do with social media?"
And to answer him, I would say that I'm trying to do a few things with my small business.

My small business consists of selling this poster I designed

What I want to do with social media for my business:

• Create an online presence.
• Solve customer issues.
• Update customers with new deals / sales.
• Give the company a personality.

So there are a few things I took out of Brogan's list of 50 Considerations for Social Media Use.

# 3. Pick three social networks to join based on where your customers might be. Three might sound like too few, but it probably will be too many.

The first site I joined to give my product some notoriety was www.Goodsie.com, which is an ecommerce storefront that connects me to thousands of other online stores created by small businesses like mine. The next two sites were naturally a Facebook and Twitter account, both of which I display the product and customers can post pictures of their posters. In fact, I have some help in running some of these accounts, which brings me to...

# 5. Get a second (or maybe third) person in the company to build accounts on these places. Nice to have backups, in case you get busy.

Because of the many orders I receive online and in person, I can't be the only one running my design company. I have brought on a few other students to help me with handling orders and shipping. They have also helped me with building a personality on the official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

# 13. Use tagging and metadata to improve your blog's search features. Most newer blog software has this built in. If not, look for plug-ins.

My Goodsie.com account has the ability to add tags to the products that I add. This makes it easier for someone who is looking for "OU" "poster" "art" "frame" "print" and the like. Also, this allows potential customers to see my poster come up in the search results after Googleing my product.

# 18. On social networks, look for ways to contribute, even when they're not directly related to your company or product.

On the Princeton Review Poster Twitter and Facebook accounts, I have found ways to post things in Athens or OU news that attract attention from the student body or alumni. This gets my product exposure without having to advertise it.

# 22. Use notepad or Evernote files to jot down post ideas when you don't have a moment to write. Return frequently.

This, this, this, this, this. I use Evernote no matter where I am. If I'm at my computer, or anywhere else, it's on my phone. When I get an email about a suggestion for my design company, I clip it with Evernote and save those ideas.

These are just a few ways that Brogan says I can do to make my design company more successful.