Market Your Small Business Online
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A common mistake many marketers make when dealing with online communication is in thinking that it can be turned on and off like an advertising campaign. Online networks are generally not very receptive to marketing messages from brand new members. You must earn the right to talk about your product through participation in and contribution to the community. Similarly, you cannot simply leave when the campaign is over, or you will be seen as shallow and a ?user.? People do not want to be used; please do not use people.
Action Steps
First, start with the Ten Steps to Dramatically Improve Your Network with Social Software. Once you've established your personal presence and started growing your network online, here are steps you can take to leverage virtual relationships for marketing:
Pull, don?t push. Focus on awareness, not persuasion. Your participation, your signatures, and your profiles will create awareness. Those who are interested will be attracted to you and will come to you for information and assistance.
Create a standard template for e-mail and Web signatures for all your employees. Reinforce your brand with every communication. It can be simple text, but it?s easy enough to incorporate your company logo, as well. However, some people do not consider elaborate signatures appropriate for general correspondence.
Cross-promote. Link to your Web site in your e-mail signature. Link to your communities from your Web site. Link to your personal profile page from your community page. Link, link, link.
Create a community around a cause or topic associated with your brand.
Music groups, films, authors, and many technology companies can often support a community around their brand. However, many other companies do not have that type of user base. Instead they can build a community around a cause, as Avon does with its Breast Cancer Crusade (http://www.avonfoundation.org/breast-cancer-crusade).
Be consistent, not persistent. Long gaps in your participation will be noticed, and if your participation conveniently peaks for the two weeks before your marketing campaign, people will see it as manipulative.
A common mistake many marketers make when dealing with online communication is in thinking that it can be turned on and off like an advertising campaign. Online networks are generally not very receptive to marketing messages from brand new members. You must earn the right to talk about your product through participation in and contribution to the community. Similarly, you cannot simply leave when the campaign is over, or you will be seen as shallow and a ?user.? People do not want to be used; please do not use people.
Action Steps
First, start with the Ten Steps to Dramatically Improve Your Network with Social Software. Once you've established your personal presence and started growing your network online, here are steps you can take to leverage virtual relationships for marketing:
Pull, don?t push. Focus on awareness, not persuasion. Your participation, your signatures, and your profiles will create awareness. Those who are interested will be attracted to you and will come to you for information and assistance.
Create a standard template for e-mail and Web signatures for all your employees. Reinforce your brand with every communication. It can be simple text, but it?s easy enough to incorporate your company logo, as well. However, some people do not consider elaborate signatures appropriate for general correspondence.
Cross-promote. Link to your Web site in your e-mail signature. Link to your communities from your Web site. Link to your personal profile page from your community page. Link, link, link.
Create a community around a cause or topic associated with your brand.
Music groups, films, authors, and many technology companies can often support a community around their brand. However, many other companies do not have that type of user base. Instead they can build a community around a cause, as Avon does with its Breast Cancer Crusade (http://www.avonfoundation.org/breast-cancer-crusade).
Be consistent, not persistent. Long gaps in your participation will be noticed, and if your participation conveniently peaks for the two weeks before your marketing campaign, people will see it as manipulative.