Natural Marketing in Business

This guest post is Part 2 in a two-part series by Patrice Barber, President Taylor Made Small Biz.

In the last post we discussed how to get profitable on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Start with the end in mind. Now we move on to the nuts and bolts of Communities and Tools:

So how do we get rewards from our investment of time on Twitter, LinkedIN, and Facebook?

Twitter (a micro blog of 140 characters ) is good for :

• Launching- creating a buzz  to launch your new product or announce your new group or talk about anything important that is going to happen and continue the conversation right as it is happening through to the 2 -5days after it has happened.
• Linking- Providing occasional links to other peoples posts and products as well as some of your own.
• Connections- Enabling you to find others who will be in a city at an event you may be attending to hook up with them. There is nothing so powerful as walking into a room of 100 and having 3-4 people walk up to you with a big grin and hearty welcome. They are as glad to network with you as you are with them.
• Branding- when you are seen in multiple places with a consistent image and talk, you will build brand, credibility and expert status…. Naturally

The tools-  You do have to find and use tools to make Twitter useful. Get organized on twitter with tweetdeck.com to see what is going on and use  mr.tweet.com to set up automation. Check this link for serious Twitter tools.

EX :If I want to find out who is searching for help on “Starting a small business” ; viola I  go to search.Twitter.com, type it and get the results. AMAZING results. It shows what people are saying, ties to their blogs and shows you who is responding to what , so you can join in where you have expert information to share.

Once you use the tools you will be able to see how to tweet , retweet and raise yourself up in the eyes of those who would be followers.

Check this link for top 10 mistakes on LinkedIN
LinkedIN is good for:

• Job hunting ( its original purpose)
• Marketing and sales - using the search and advanced search functions to find your prospects
• Connecting- to other professionals in a related group or groups with those needing your service. Join groups now.
• Expert status- by setting yourself to answer questions you become an expert
• Building your own group – this is a very fast way to gather a following as long as you provide a serious benefit to them. Be passionate or be dead.
• Best feature is that everytime you do a simple update, LinkedIn posts it out to all your 1st tier without you having to send a “toot your horn” message. Work it weekly and it will provide a LOT of links back to your website.
• More formal and slower paced than twitter

Facebook is good for:

• Rekindling prior relations
• Setting up new relationships for more personal and local use.
• Sharing your information from the frequent tweets to the less frequent Facebook details via Friendfeed.com
• Excellent for launching a new group or new product – your new group can be seen by 1000’s in as short as a week just by 20 people commenting and thus sharing with 50 of their friends.
• Less formal than twitter

I cannot over emphasize the need to have your website set up to CONVERT people who land there. Relevant action drives conversion and is critical from every page that you link back to. Tools are great, but what are you going to do with them?

About the Author
Patrice Barber is the Small Biz Tactical Guide.  She gives small business owners who are wandering in the wilderness; the map to success, the tools for the journey, and guides them to their oasis. As a serial entrepreneur she has founded six small businesses of her own, a 501©3 foundation to support charter schools and helped 4-6 business owners per year (and doubling each year) since 2003. All of them are thriving in their oasis!  Find out more at www.tmsmallbiz.com