Many small businesses and bloggers don’t have any idea where to start when it comes to social media. Few realize there are hundreds of social networks, but only a small number of those will be important to you.
1) IMPORTANT: Choose Your Username Wisely!
It is essential that you use the SAME user name on every platform. Ideally you want to use the same username everywhere you participate online.
Because I use GrowMap everywhere, I make it easy for anyone who mentions me to include the most relevant username. If I had even one that was different, they would have to look it up – greatly reducing the likelihood they would include @GrowMap in a tweet or on Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest or anywhere else.
Your username should be:
- As short as possible and no longer than 15 characters maximum. (This is the limit on Twitter.)
- Easy to spell
- Memorable for easy recall
There is an easy way to make sure the user name you have in mind is available on all the major social networks:
Check username availability by going
to Knowem and doing a FREE search.
For a business, use your business name if it is short enough. For example, A Tasteful Gift is fortunate because their name is only 13 characters long (without the spaces), so they can use @ATastefulGift on Twitter and ATastefulGift on all other social networks.
In contrast, Executive Gift Shoppe can not use their name on their social networks, so they used @ExecGifts and @giftshoppe. If you must shorten your name, choose a name that is similar so that your customers can remember it.
Most Important Social Networks
Ensure that you can get your desired username on at least these important social networks:
- Google Plus
- YouTube
These are the minimum. To determine which other social networks you should use and why, read How to Decide Which Social Networks are Most Important to YOU.
2) Create accounts on at least the primary social networks
Go to each of the most important social networks, sign up, and create your bio. Be sure to include:
- Your username that you use consistently everywhere
- An Avatar
- Your business name, your name, or your pseudonym (pen name)
- A link to the most important site where others can get more details about you. For a business, this might be your about page or your home page.
If you don’t plan to be active on that social network yet, create your account and mention in your bio where you can best be found. I highly recommend Twitter; however, some prefer Google + or you could send them to your site.
Have more money than time? The premium Knowem service allows you to register your username and bio on what they consider the most important 25 networks for $69.95. (Do manually add Google Plus to what they cover.)
Which social networks matter most?
Twitter is the most important account for getting mentioned regularly because a Twitter username is easy to remember and links to your site. Instead of having to remember how you spelled your URL, if it contains dashes, or whether you used .com or .somethingelse (always use .com), we only have to remember one short nickname. There is no special form for creating a business account. See Twitter Best Practices for getting started tips and strategies.
Pinterest is essential if you sell anything that can be easily seen in photographs. For example, A Tasteful Gift is an ecommerce gift basket store so all their products have colorful photographs that are easily pinned and repinned. After Twitter, pinterest.com/atastefulgift will be their most important social network. Businesses should use Pinterest Business Accounts. For tips on using Pinterest see the GrowMap Pinterest How-to board.
Google Plus can be beneficial for SEO. See these posts for details:
- 10 Ways Google+ Will Improve Your SEO
- SEO for Google+ Profiles, Pages, Local, Communities & Updates
- Amazing Correlation Between Google +1s and Higher Search Rankings
- Google Plus Strategies, Benefits, Drawbacks, How-to Tips and Videos
- Best G+ Communities Make Using Google Plus Productive
LinkedIn is best for getting recommended and to participate in groups to expand your audience. Use LinkedIn groups the way you use G+ communities. Use them to reach your target audience and exhibit knowledge of your niche. Be sure to use every section of LinkedIn as the one place to highlight your accomplishments and skills. Create both a personal LinkedIn account and a separate account for your business. For tips and strategies see LinkedIn: How to Maximize Results.
What other social networks are important?
There are many more social networks. Which ones are a priority for your business depends on the type of business and your goals. Answering questions on Quora is a good place to show your expertise. Clarity.fm is useful if you want to find or provide consulting services. Search for GrowMap if you want to see an example of how I use it.
Research where your audience is active.
Look for social networks specific to your niche or audience.
Being an active big fish in a small network where your buyers
hang out is more important than being a tiny fish in a huge network.
When you are first getting started, seek out a mentor or hire an experienced social savvy advisor. They can quickly get you up and running and teach you the basics painlessly. Figuring it all out on your own can be frustrating or lead to mistakes you will regret.
IMPORTANT TIP: If someone claims to be an “expert” look at their results. If they have no followers, how can they get followers for you? If they do not share quality content, what will they share for you? Be especially wary of young people who may not realize what is inappropriate behavior, language, or humor for business.
Have questions or need help? Leave a comment or contact me for assistance.
Gail Gardner
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Great post. One thing that bugs me though is how does one be social everywhere, all of the time? What i mean is, even if you use some system where it posts your content at the same time on twitter, facebook and all the other social networks, its still a hit and miss way of doing it. Google seems to be pushing use of G+ but asides from the fact total strangers keep adding me to their circles, it hasnt benefited us in any way, in fact i HATE my photo showing up the search results!
You can’t be. What you need is are processes for each of the platforms you decide to use regularly. I highly recommend most people get advice and let someone experienced set up their accounts and provide the process until they are ready for more advanced strategies.
For example, on Twitter you can find highly relevant really high quality content and feed it into your account using Twitterfeed. This ensures you never go 30 days without tweeting. (Many serious social media people – the ones with the most followers who can get your business seen – use tools that highlight “inactive” accounts for unfollowing. Inactive is typically set at 30 days.) How to do this is explained in https://growmap.com/how-to-use-twitterfeed/
That is an example of something you could have done for you since you only need it once. I pay an assistant to unfollow dormant accounts, follow relevant new accounts, and eventually unfollow non-followers (because the way Twitter works you must do that to make room for new followers). I have an offshore assistant who can do that for me for $2 per hour. Since there is no writing involved, there is no problem if their written English is not perfect.
If I were a business I would hire those things done and then focus on just tweeting and interacting on Twitter. Twitter is essential because it is the way we connect with influencers and build collaborations.
Pinterest can be extremely effective for businesses that sell anything that photographs well. That, too, can be hired out because the primary actions are:
1) Search for related images.
2) Like them (click the heart).
3) Pin them to your related board.
4) Follow the original pinner. (They are your target audience and following them shows them what you offer.)
This is a fun task that you may want to do yourself, but there is no reason you can’t have an employee, or your children, an American (for about $10 / hour) or even offshore workers ($2-$3 hour) doing this for you.
One blogger I know paid someone just to pin for her and now Pinterest sends her 30-50,000 visitors a month – more than many businesses and bloggers get from search engines!
Google Plus is only really useful if you find or create a relevant community so that enough people see what you’re doing to make it worthwhile. This you almost have to do yourself or hire someone really sharp to do for you. See http://socialimplications.com/google-plus-communities/ for tips and some strong communities.
I personally really don’t care for Facebook, so others are far more qualified to give advice on that platform. What I do is make sure I have a profile with the same username everywhere and use the bio to direct people there to where I am most active.
I do not use my image online and I do not have google authorship set up (although some blogs I write for may have linked to my G+ profile from my bio on their site). No one has to put their image and personal information online. I am living proof that not providing photos has not kept me from being well known online. Google +1s are believed to improve search engine positions so using it should benefit us.
My recommendation to most people is to pay someone to do what only needs to be done once and either hire experienced help or learn to do what needs to be done regularly. Automate what is not critical, and do yourself what you want in your own voice. I train and manage a very small team and offer those services and I also offer consulting to make sure businesses focus on what will make the most difference for their individual business.
For those who prefer to understand it themselves, I shared how to decide which social networks are most important in http://socialimplications.com/important-social-networks/
Hey Gail! Thank you for sharing these tips! I will use these to improve my business and to attract more audience!
With this awesome article, getting started in social media has never been simpler and easier. With this carefully laid down steps and guide, I strongly believe I’d do well in my social media activities. Im most importantly after SEO hence I think my focus would be on G+.
Thanks for sharing this, Gail..really appreciate it!
Hi Gail,
Your post couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m just getting ready to start with social media and didn’t really know the most important ones to use. I will definitely use your tips. Great Post. Thanks.
Hi Bob,
I have a post that explains what each network is best used for that could benefit you. See http://socialimplications.com/important-social-networks/
If you have questions leave them in the comments here or if you want personalized advice specific to your business contact me. I have a profile at http://clarity.fm/growmap that describes what types of consultation requests I most often receive.
Great post!! A word of caution is needed while picking the username as well as the social media network, as these two factors are responsible for the image which the world avails of an individual. Thanks for the share.
Hey Gail ,
Thank you for sharing your informative tips with us!
I 100% agree when you say: “usernames should be consistent everywhere”,
it’s annoying to go for different username look-up for every site and makes it harder to find you.
But i must disagree with your ratings for the most important social -site.
i don’t think it’s Twitter at all,
the number site you should consider, is Google+ by far..
Google owns 80% of the search-engines. in fact the whole world is driven by Google’s search engine today, and because Google+ is owned by Google you’ll be far more easier to be found on the search engine. same goes for Youtube!
I believe the priority should go to Google+ and Youtube!
what the hell Twitter is good for anyways ??
Many thanks and Best Wishes!
Hi Mitch,
Google’s monopoly makes them extremely dangerous. While Google +1s most likely do make you easier to find in their search engine, Google can and does take away traffic from small businesses every day. 100% of the small businesses I’ve spoken with since the MayDay update (before Panda and Penguin) have been severely damaged by loss of traffic. Overnight they lose 58-70+% of their traffic and business.
Making G+ your priority puts all your eggs in Google’s basket that they delight in throwing off a cliff. It is imperative that you create alternate sources of traffic. Twitter and Pinterest are the two sites that are sending businesses and bloggers I know the most traffic.
Twitter is how you get influencers with 30,000-100,000+ followers to recommend you. It is how you find new customers. Many use Twitter search to get product recommendations and find retailers.
Pinterest search is widely used to find products. It is extremely popular in key demographics. Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest are currently all run as separate entities so at this time you can still drive traffic from the others if Google penalizes you.
I elaborate more on what we use each social network for in http://socialimplications.com/important-social-networks.
Excellent post. I always use Facebook and Twitter in Social Media marketing. Both are effective and awesome things to start work on. If you have good skills then you can get a lot of fans and followers.
Thanks
I really think Google+ is growing in importance as a social network to be active on, at least in terms of driving traffic. With Google+ (and Google+ communities), I find I can drive a lot more traffic compared to Twitter for example.
Great post! Yes, choosing a username is very important, but I feel it is often times overlooked. KnowEm is a great service!
Yes, a lot of “experts”, “gurus” & “ninjas” out there. Small business owners need to be careful. Take a look at what they are doing before hiring them.
Thanks for sharing this great post with us. The social media network is one of the strongest network to build links and attract visitors to your site. So everyone should like this post very much.
This is one of the most straightforward articles on getting involved and using social media that I have read and it is well appreciated. Too many go so far in depth with information that it becomes very confusing. What you have outlined here will certainly be of good use to myself and others. Thanks for sharing.
Choosing the right username is very important has it is the very first step for us as the easy username we have the more audience will remember it.
I will also like to suggest Tumblr to be added in the social networking site as I have been their and it has help me to get a good traffic in compare to Facebook and Google Plus.
Hi Alia,
Tumblr was purchased by Yahoo in May 2013 and Yahoo has a long history of buying and then killing off useful services. I would not want to put too much into Tumblr unless I had it backed up to reuse elsewhere should that platform go away.
While many argue that will never happen, deleting blog content is precisely what both MySpace and StumbleUpon did. Google and Tumblr are both known to delete content. The best strategy is to use social networks to drive traffic to a domain you control.