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One noticeable difference between the beginning of the web and what we know today is the presence of social media. While it may appear as if everyone has caught the fever, there are many companies who haven't considered if/how social media can help their business.

To put it simply, social media is communication online. Does that sound scary to you? The process of starting from scratch can be. Getting involved in social media can be intimidating; so much so, you might not know where to even begin. But with a little help and the right tools it can be a stress free process. There is a wide variety ways to communicate online. Part of the problem lies in the fact that companies are not taking the time to create a Social Media Program.


If your company is not engaged in social media, where should you start?

1. Figure out what you want to get out of Social Media - determine what social sites you want to be a part of and which would be most beneficial to your company.

2. Research what your competition is doing in social media and take notes.

3. Develop a Social Media Program - link the program to your overall marketing goals and themes.

4. Determine where/if your company's audience is present on social media and identify three platforms (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) that make the most sense.

5. Register your company on yourselected social sites.

6. Create your profiles - it is extremely important to get your profile "spot on" because this is the first impression other members of the community will remember.

7. Develop a schedule/calendar and stick to it!

8. Dive in - it's trial and error for everyone!

9. Have fun!! This is SOCIAL media!


Here are a few additional tips to get you started:

1. Add social networking buttons to your static webpages - make it easy for people to locate your social networking sites.

2. Add social bookmarking buttons to your webpage - when a page from your website is bookmarked it makes it very easy for your webpage to be shared with others.

3. Start commenting on blogs - commenting on blogs is a great way to get incoming links to your website. The more links you have coming in to your website not only brings in new potential customers and clients, but it can also move you up in the search engines.

4. Participate in answer sites - Participating in a site, like Yahoo! Answers or Answers.com, is an excellent way to get links coming into your site and a wonderful way to become known as an expert in your field.

5. Social networking - social networking is a way of interacting with other people in a web community setting. Check to see if the site has a FAQ page for newbies. It will list plenty of tips and community suggestions that can make your transition much easier.

6. Your avatar/profile picture - do NOT use the default avatar. These get ignored.

7. Profile name - this is the name you want the community to know you by so make it memorable and reflective of your brand.A picture of your company logo is always a good choice.

8. Profile details - take a few extra minutes to come up with a great description of yourself and/or your business. Keep it short and make sure it states the most important things about you and/or your business.

9. Website links - if you have websites that you would like to let others know about, add links to your profile. Active members of social networking communities will most likely be checking your profile out. If you have links in your profile, you have a pretty good chance of members clicking on them to check out your sites.

10. Have customers review you online - hearing what others have to say about your company is a great way to learn about your strengths and where you can improve.


Now that we have given you a few helpful tips and explained just how important social media is, it's your turn to put all that you learned into good use. Social Media can be a lot of fun and very rewarding in so many ways.

Good luck!