Fear Not, Social Media Can Be Your Friend!

Guest blogger, Marlene Passell

By Guest Blogger, Marlene Passell

As a freelancer working with a variety of businesses and nonprofits, I find the thing they have in common is a fear or lack of information about social media.  The result? They are missing out on great opportunities to engage their clients and find new ones.

The biggest fear seems to be that social media is time consuming and many can’t see the benefits they may reap from it. Just remember that social media should be just one tool in a well-stocked toolbox – that it is a great way to get suggestions and input from customers and potential ones and a virtually free method to get word out about your services, what makes you unique and why your business or nonprofit stands out above others with similar missions.

All of you should have a website and include as many links as possible, even within the site, from one page to information on another.  And, whenever possible, put up a two- or three-minute video of a how-to or a testimonial from satisfied customers.  This increases your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which means you move up to the top of the heap on search engines such as Google.  In plain terms, if you’re in the business of selling a product or service and someone puts it in as a search term, you’ll move up to the top of the list.

Then use social media such as Facebook or Twitter to announce what’s new or what you do or what people are saying on your website and link them back to it. Set your business or organization up as an expert in your field by offering how-to tips about your product or service – that’s one of the best ways to get people clicking over to your site.  You’ll find that a few hours of updating a week will increase your visibility and you can get creative and have fun doing it.