Pixelrage.net

How many times have you heard small business owners talk about starting a Twitter account or Facebook Page with no rhyme or reason? For me, it’s been way too many. From franchisees to start-ups, it seems like people jump into these trends without looking off the side, first. Social networking accounts are great – but if you have no marketing or contingency plan, they’re a complete waste of your time and effort.

Some things to think about – why do you have to be on Twitter? What value does it add to your company or business in general? (please don’t say “for the sake of being there, ’cause everyone else is on it,” which will prompt a swift kick in the ass from any proper internet marketer). Know that Twitter is not a sales tool, it’s a relationship building tool, and a way to let people know of a face behind the company or service. It lets people know that you’re doing something, instead of sitting back and collecting revenue. When people get to know you, they trust you – hence, they promote you. If you’re throwing in affiliate links and other worthless garbage, you’ll lose your reader base faster than the split second it takes for me to close one of those mile-long one page sales websites.

On the topic of Facebook Pages, I’ve seen some *really* shitty ones in my day, and they’re usually created by the “how do I get high page rank?” crowd. Facebook Pages, like Twitter accounts or anything else that goes public to the internet community, will require constant effort on your part. Post something of substance. The instant you start being self promotional is the instant people will lose faith in you and your ability to be “one of the crowd.” Make your Facebook Page be all about other people’s opinions. Post something, ask them for their feelings or opinions, and participate. Do something fun or interesting – post a funny video related to your business, or branch off a new thread about a discussion that had just been started to get some more visitor participation. Do this every couple days. If you let a Facebook Page sit stagnant, nobody will want to “fan” it…especially when the post at the very top of the page has been sitting there since 2008.

The moral of this rant is that social networking has the word “work” in it. It’s not a ‘set it and forget it’ solution – have a full plan of action written down that specifies your objective (why am I doing this?), strategy (how will I initiate it?) and tactics (what tools and methods will I use?). Don’t be one of those dummies who create social networks for the sake of “being there,” or to obtain yet another worthless backlink from a blank page. Make something special out of it, and you’ll be greatly rewarded for reaching out to your audience and letting them know that you can effectively use 21st century tools :)