If you are seriously playing in the 21st Century sandbox of marketing, you are probably engaged in social media. If not, you had better incorporate social media into your overall marketing strategy. And now.

The train has definitely left the station. If you are not on board - you are missing out on a major marketing tactic to bring in new prospects to your business.

The train is pulling out. Here are ten ways you can jump on board…

1. BLOGGING - Blogging is a great way to find and read educational content, and a better way to distribute content and build an interactive following with your online community. If you blog, you should increase traffic by "blogging by thirds." This strategy involves spending one-third of your time writing content for your blog, spending one-third of your time finding other good blogs in your market space, and then one-third of your time commenting on those new found blogs. Contributing is an important way to build a friendship with that blogger who will likely return the favor, but the act of commenting and linking back to your own blog is magic when it comes to improved SEO scoring.

2. TWITTER - The hottest ticket in the online world, Twitter is revolutionizing how online business is getting done. Tweets are limited to 140 characters, so you are forced to offer simple, concise messages to your following. Stripped down to just offering simple communications, Twitter enables you make contact with literally thousands of people with one message. But don't join just to promote yourself. Like all other social media, Twitter is meant to build community and provide value by giving forward. But it remains the largest driver of traffic to my blog…

3. FACEBOOK - Facebook remains the most popular social media tool out there, although Twitter is catching up. Facebook is a much more social medium than LinkedIn or Twitter, because it enables you to share a lot more about whom you are and what interests you. Facebook allows you to synch your blog posts and Twitter messages to your Facebook page, meaning you can spend time at one source and update multiple social mediums at once. But to me, the real value of Facebook is that it enables you to see your clients and prospects in a non-working environment - allowing you to better know who they are. This allows you to connect on a more personal level down the road.

4. LinkedIn - Don't just create a LinkedIn profile and devote energy to adding new connections. All this does is make you feel good about a raw number. Instead, spend time looking at your friends connections - find people you want to connect with - and ask your friend to introduce you. Join groups in your market - and when you see questions that you can answer - answer them and provide value to the whole community. You will become recognized as someone who provides value and that will increase connections and drive traffic to both your profile and website.

5. SEO - Don't shortchange your SEO efforts. Engaging in all of these tools suggested here does help your overall SEO score. Unless you have had your head buried in the sand, online is the wave of the future. I predict a day in the not too distant future when the hardcopy yellow pages will be a thing of the past. If you and your business can't be found online, you will miss the train…

6. If it makes sense, shift from a static website to a blog, or at least add a blog to your site presence. It doesn't make sense for everybody, but where appropriate, switching your web strategy from a static presence to a blog can be a real benefit. Blogs are great for improved SEO scoring, but also provide wonderful opportunities to drive fresh content, solicit and propose new ideas, push client engagement, and provide real time handling of customer service scenarios and questions.

7. NETWORKING - If networking is a major piece of your marketing strategy, social media is for you. But you must change the paradigm of your thinking, and recognize that social media is just like networking, it is just done online. It is still about building relationships, helping new friends, making referrals, and providing value. No different than what you do at the Chamber mixer…

8. PODCASTING - Podcasting is big business on the internet. Spend a few minutes with Google, and you can find podcasts on virtually every topic. Downloading podcasts are a great way to learn new things when stuck in a car or on an airplane. Creating podcasts of value are great tools to demonstrate your expertise, and they can help drive traffic to your website.

9. YouTube/FLICKr - You mustn't forget that YouTube and Flickr are social networking tools too. They are not just storage places for videos and digital photos. You can invite friends to view your content, and build more social community with these tools too. The value here is that you can provide specific content that helps your community AND further cements your brand.

10. Won't all this take too much time? It can, if you let it. But how much time do you spend networking at an event anyway? If you know 250 people personally, do you really communicate with every one of them each day? No. So, recognize that with social media you will only engage a handful of people each day anyway - and that's ok! As long as you are strengthening the relationship and providing value, you are doing the right thing. I spend anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour a day with social media…

Need some coaching about how to do some strategic thinking and unsure where and how to launch your social media program? Or don't see how this leads to more qualified prospects for your business? Email me at todd@intrepid-llc.com and you can buy me some coffee to discuss face-to-face.

But what I can promise is this: if you get on board and engage with social media, you will build a larger referral network, become known in the market place as an expert in your field, and you will become known as someone of real value, an influencer.

And I don't have to tell you how those things will get prospects knocking on your door…

Note: Let me be clear, there are other social media tools out there - I am just naming a handful. Get out there and explore other options that are right for you…

____________________________________________

To comment on this article, please go to our blog.