Where Creativity and Social Media Networking Collide

by

Tania Murphy


Monday, May 24, 2010

Putting in the Social Media Networking Hard Yards

Today I have put a few hours into tweaking my blog and social media networking tools. I am already seeing the results in numbers, followers and fans. No wonder I did not dedicate a lot of time to this when I had the retail store as there is so much to learn, read and consider. This has been a bit of a full time job in itself.

What I want to provide you on my blog is a bit of a middleman approach to social media networking as I test things out. I would like to share with you what I feel has worked and what is not working for my business, and maybe you can take some of this information and use it in your businesses.

In the time I had my retail store which was nearly four years I would hate to tell you how much I shelled out on paid print media advertising, it would be over $20,000 and for a small business, that to me is a lot of money that I felt I got little return from.

I was promised the moon and stars but instead I felt like I was eating dirt and worms. I cringe every time I get a phone call from a print media organisation regarding advertising in their publication.

I am on the war path with advertising and feel that there must be a better way.

These are my tips so far

Get a google account.
Get a twitter account.
Get a Personal Profile on Facebook - and from that start your business fan page - both the personal and fan pages are used for your business - if you want a personal fan page to talk about your personal life with friends and family have that as a separate account - I will explain in another post why you need to separate them.
Get a blog - I am now using Blogger , I have used Typepad and looked at Wordpress - but I prefer blogger so far.
Get a Website.

In further posts I will talk about each media and how I have it working for me

So for today I suggest you get a Google Account then go to Google Places if you have a business. If you business is already on Google Maps make sure everything is correct - this service is free. This is mine so you know what it looks like Jet Beads & Craft Google Place. Google places with give you statistics which shows you over time if people are searching for you and by what means they found you . People don't use the yellow pages book or the UBD anymore. So you have to be digital and accessible.

So what did you think? I always love hearing your feedback, so please leave me a comment down below with questions, thoughts, or feedback. And please share this post with your Twitter and FB friends by clicking on the share buttons below. I totally appreciate it!! Thanks so much for spending time with me here today!

Before I go - here are some featured sewing patterns from my website that were loaded up today - if you register on the website you will go on my newsletter mail out list which contains special discount codes which will apply to your orders.



Cheers Tania

5 comments:

  1. Tick, tick, tick – getting there on your list. I have twitter, but really can’t get into it. My blog auto posts there, but that’s about as much as I interact with it. I love blogging and I can’t believe how much I love my facebook fan page. I had basically shelved my personal one, but the fan page is great. I have sold more paintings on facebook lately than anywhere else. I just have to figure out a way to get more people to drop by there without pleading for all my friends to tell their friends, that’s just not my style, but I’d love to be able to share my work with more people.

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  2. Oh and I looked at trying to load your sharing is sexy book marker last night, but it just seemed to complicated in my sleepy state. Did you use a widget or change the html?

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  3. Kylie I inserted html - and for getting more fans on your facebook page - I am sharing some tips on Thursday night at the Ipswich Women in Business thing - after that I will post some tips on the blog

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  4. Thanks Tania, I will follow this thread with interest. I had already converted my Tweet account to my business name (which is still in set up stages at the moment but bubbling away quite nicely), and had decided to keep facebook for friends, but maybe all I need to do is set up another account. Will think on it, and take from your learning.

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  5. Interesting post Tania! Good luck in your new venture - how fun to be able to work from home.

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