(Mark Hayward is back with another guest post on marketing for small business, drawn from his own experience. You can follow him on Twitter @mark_hayward)
If you are like me, when you purchased or opened your business, you really did not have a clue about how to market yourself online. Perhaps, you still don’t.
Certainly, it can be beyond frustrating trying to figure out social media on your own. With all of the noise that’s online you have every right to feel frustrated and dismayed, while attempting to learn exactly what you need to do to promote your business.
In fact, for beginners, social media promotion can seem like a never-ending tale chasing exercise.
There are probably a million websites on the web that tout solutions for marketing and promoting your business online. When you are getting started it can be very difficult to know who the true professionals are and it can take months to figure out where the high quality information is located.
In order to help save you some time and get a jump on your social media strategy, here are five sites, listed in chronological order of where I would begin, that helped me to figure things out:
Site 1: Seth Godin (@thisissethsblog) – Seth is a brilliant marketer. His blog is packed with informative articles, and if you are searching for help with developing your story and customer service philosophy, I suggest you spend some time perusing his site.
Read these first:
Site 2: CopyBlogger (@copyblogger)– Brian has a humorous, no frills and no BS style when it comes to drafting copy for websites and blogs. Once you have figured out the story you want to develop by reading Seth’s site, let CopyBlogger teach you how to write and think like a copywriter.
Read these first:
Site 3: ProBlogger (@problogger)– As the site’s name would suggest, Darren’s site is not necessarily all social media all the time, but he is the definitive authority when it comes to blogging. If you find yourself struggling with getting your small business blog off the ground, ProBlogger’s beginner content is value packed.
Read these first:
Site 4: Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan)– Chris is the undisputed mayor of Twitter. When you are ready to begin your social media campaign have a read through his “Social Media 100” series and learn how to effectively listen, engage, and create community.
Read these first:
Site 5: Duct Tape Marketing – John’s site has a more traditional small business marketing slant with a good helping of social media thrown in. To this day, when I am looking for new marketing ideas, I return to Duct Tape Marketing.
Read these first:
- My Social Media System
- Social Media for Small Business (Archived Webinar)
As a final note, the one thing that really sticks out with all of the above-mentioned professionals is that they make their living selling their services or products related to their marketing and social media expertise. However, if you email them with a question they are humble, helpful, and kind enough to email back and provide real, actionable solutions to your problem.
Mark Hayward lives in the Caribbean and built up a clientele for his small business using nothing but social media. He tries to help beginners make sense of social media and how they can use it for business promotion. You can follow him on Twitter @mark_hayward.
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The rural small business blog. We talk about small town business, with how-to articles, especially on social media marketing and making your community a better place. We use this “author” for announcements and other things you’ll want to know.
I appreciate the links in this post. Although I’ve been blogging off and on since 2004, it’s always helpful to take a new look at how I’m doing things. I bookmarked this so I can come back; great resource.
Thanks, Terry. We are all always learning.