Tasha Cunningham shares many tips for using social media to get your brand message across -- even if you have only one hour a day. Here is her column from today's Herald.
By Tasha Cunningham
Tasha@BizBytes101.com
Recently a BizBytes 101 reader sent an email lamenting the fact that he had only one hour a day and very little money to market his online business. He was so busy, in fact, that even carving out an hour would be difficult. But he wanted advice on what he could do online in those 60 minutes a day. To help him and other small business owners in the same boat, BizBytes has developed a list of nine fast and free ways to market your business online with just one hour a day.
- Be a resource to your clients. Have you found something that is free or low-cost that would helpful to your clients? Have you used something that is making your life easier that you can share?
Take a few minutes, write up a quick review of how the product or service is helpful and share it with your clients. Don’t “sell” to your clients in your email, but include a link to your own website in your email signature. Being a resource to your clients shows them that you’re thinking about them.
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Connect people via email. Do you know two business people or clients who should know each other? Take a moment to connect those people by sending a quick email introducing them to each other. Again, use your email signature to subtly promote your business by having a link to your site and your social networks. The people you introduce will appreciate the thought and hopefully do business with you and each other in the future.
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Update your social networks. Take 10 minutes to write a quick post about something that you want to share with your social networks. Comment on a national business story. Share your thoughts on a new trend or impart a few tips that will help your followers, friends and clients. Next, take another 15 minutes to share that post on all of your social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Take another 25 minutes to check out the comments on other people’s social network posts and leave a comment on each one. Do as many as you can in 25 minutes. Then take the last 10 minutes of that hour to plan what you’ll post about the next day. You’ve just spent an hour reaching out to the hundreds of potential clients via social media. See how easy that was?
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Send handwritten notes and thank you cards. With the majority of business people communicating by email and social networks these days, you may think that a handwritten note is an antiquated way of reaching out to people. But handwritten notes and thank you cards have become a unique way of getting a client’s attention and will set you apart from others. For example, take an hour to create a thank you card simply thanking someone for being your client. Put a coupon or discount offer in it that brings the recipient back to your website to claim the offer or use the coupon. You can download card templates free from companies like Vista Print, Microsoft Office.
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Sound off on industry forums. Set aside an hour a day to post comments and opinions on online forums related to your business. Narrow it down to the three most popular industry forums. Always include a link back to your website in your posts.
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Update your website. Update the content, post new promotions and sales offers or write a new blog post. When your site is updated, send an email to your clients letting them know that you’ve got a new promotion they should check out.
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Record a how-to video. It should be related to your business, such as how to use your latest product. Upload the video to YouTube and post it on your social networks. Use free tools like Jing or another similar program to quickly record and share a video: www.jing.com
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Find a reason to write a release. Have you launched a new product, won an award or have some other news to share with the media? Don’t keep it to yourself. Use an hour to create and distribute a press release to your client base. Services like www.PressMethod.com allow you to submit and distribute press releases free.
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Snag a client testimonial. Your clients are really the best ambassadors for your brand and business. Send an email to 20 of your clients asking them to write a short, five-sentence testimonial about your products or services. Ask permission to use the testimonial on your website.
Looking for more great ways to promote your business in an hour a day? Check out www.BizBytes101.com.
Readers, what are your tips?
Rea
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/15/2747124/nine-fast-and-free-ways.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/15/2747124/nine-fast-and-free-ways.html#storylink=cpy