Monday, July 5, 2010

How to experience social media marketing before you start. Get the feel for it.

Fast track: from total newbie to experienced blogger:

1. Get a big picture view.

2. Create a social media profile that is the best representation of who you are,  who you serve, and what is unique about your services.

3. Perform keyword research and tweak your profile to make sure you are speaking in language that resonates.

4. Define topics near and dear to you. (not more than 4)

5. Set up Google Alerts around those topics

6. Use Google Reader to subscribe to the best complimentary blogs.

Little by little there's a move from reading, to posting notes in Google Reader. Confidence expands and those notes become paragraphs. There's movement from one paragraph to three. Writing in a blog is no different than posting a pararghaph or two in Google Reader.

Using Posterous for blogging helps to make it easy...it is just like writing an email. Blogging has become a common practice and sharing quality content across social networks is no big deal.

If the big picture becomes obscure or lost, don't worry. It is still there and will come back into view. It will become even stronger and more clear. You will discover more about what is important to you and to your readers if you stick with the basics.

Get a feel for social media marketing and experience it first hand. Once you get in the habit of reading, thinking and sharing , the rest is easy.

Online marketing isn't a static process and the chances of being motivated by a formula and list of instructions, is slim to none.

But almost without fail, when you find your tribe, your topics and your voice, you will develop a genuine love for blogging and social media marketing.

Posted via email from tamismith's posterous

2 comments:

Change Agent said...

Can we examine where we are on the risk-reward curve everyday, and where we are on the momentum scale every so often? If I plant a lot of inexpensive plant seeds in March-June, and harvest a lot of food June-July, that's low in cost and ROI, but high probability of success. Conversely, social media's high on ROI, possibly perceived as high on risk of failure. Similarly, if you're pretty much doing th same things this week as a year ago, you're in statis- no momentum, not evoloving toward what you'll need to be doing to succeed in 1 year. Time to take risks! Try new things. Abandon old, comfortable habits. Join a club! Seek a friend! Explore a new hobby!

Tami Smith said...

Change Agent, I agree there's a time to examine the risk-reward curve and take a risk for higher ROI.

I know I have to move beyond my comfort zone and connect, not only more often, but in new ways.

Sticking with the basics is about forming the habit. Most of the people I work with are new to online marketing and need a process for getting started and forming good habits.

It is challenging to run a solo business and find the time to post daily and more important: posting in a focused manner.