small business social media

Social Media for Small Business – using Google Alerts

There are now so many social media for small business options that many small business owners find it all so overwhelming. If you are one of these, I have found a great post that gives an overview on the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other networking sites, long with some basic strategies for using them. But what really caught my attention in the post was the below.

Social Media for Small Business – using Google Alerts

One of the most unusual topics covered and possibly the least known for small business is the use of Google Alerts. Emma from SocialMediaSEO.net writes:

Did you know that this search engine giant has total visits of over 1.5 billion as of May 26, 2012? This figure amounts to approximately 66.81% of all Web visits.

Seeing that plenty of people trust Google for information, you can benefit from it by using all its products. Since you want to leverage the great rewards of social media, setting up and managing Alerts to help you keep track of the following aspects:

Business name – whenever a site mentions it

Competitors – any comment about them

Official website – whoever is talking about and linking to you

New or potential customers – whenever they have enquiries

Industry – whenever there are developments in your field

New products – any feedback about these

Duplicate content – whenever someone copies the information on your site without permission

click here for the full post

Get the picture.

It quite easy to set up a Google alert, just type into Google Alerts into a Google search queru and click on the options provided and away you go. Review the examples from Emma above, though I’m sure you will have some more ideas for your business. Remember to check out the full post for the social media for small business overview

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Ok, I’ll admit it, my social marketing efforts have been and are, haphazard and lacking definition. I do not have a social media content strategy. So I was pleased to find the following video by MIKAL E. BELICOVE on Entrepreneur.com which details the steps to consider before starting any social media program.

And the steps are:

1. Set your positioning. Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter? Why are you better?

2. Identify your target audience.

3. Create personas for your customers so you have a better idea of what they do and what they need.

4. Determine which social networks are the best platforms for your business.

UPDATE: Click here to view new post How to use social media for business

Social Media Content Strategy – Video

I hope you have found this as helpful as I have. Now I will sit down & think about my social media content strategy. Have you done this or are you like me, just trying to keep up with all the so called ‘must haves’ in the social media world.

It’s all about working on your business, not in your business. Enjoy!

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