10 Steps to Social Media Success

If you are a part of this community, you know the benefit of Social Media in your business. But it can be overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you participate? Don't worry, Grandma Mary breaks it down into bite sized chunks for you. I have a free 18-page report that you can download at www.10StepstoSocialMediaSuccess.com that goes more in depth but I will recap for you here.

1. Analyze and Assess. First you want to figure out what your goals are with your Social Media Campaign. How will you know when you are successful if you don't have any goals. Make them measurable and put those measuring tools in place beforehand.

2. Listen. Don't just jump in and start signing up for everything in the world. That's a ticket straight to the looney bin right there. Find out what people are saying and where they are saying it. You can sign up for Google Alerts to have reports sent to your e-mail account on certain keywords that are put into any new blog post or website. Check out www.search.twitter.com - the advanced tab will let you search on keywords or a local area (great if your business is local. You don't need a Twitter account to do this searching. Do some blog searching with Google blog search. Survey the scene.

3. Blog. This is your main deal. You really need to have a blog or a website you control. This is where you are going to direct everyone. This will be your main hub, your big kahuna. Don't worry about how hard it is, there are lots of blogging tutorials and it doesn't have to look amazing when you first start.

4. Facebook Fan Page. Don't worry about asking people to be your "fans". It's just a term. But this is nice since so many people are on Facebook - you need to connect with people there. You want to be posting things once or twice a day to remind people of your presence. Let people know about sales, special deals, helpful hints etc.

5. YouTube. Youtube is completely under-utilized. Google loves videos and they can rank highly. You can make how-to videos, answer questions, post testimonials from customers (give your customers a nice incentive). Be yourself.

6. Social Bookmarking. Digg.com, del.icio.us, stumbleupon.com. These are all great sites to share bookmarks with other community members and get some backlinks to your blog. Don't just bookmark your own sites - share the love.

7. Join groups - of course you are already doing that! But there are lots of places to find targeted groups to your niche. LinkedIn has a lot of great groups. My report has more sources. Don't overdo it - if you are going to join a group make sure you participate!

8. Forums and blog posting. This is a great way to add value and you will get some backlinks to your site. When you are doing blog searching, sign up for RSS feeds of ones that are interesting to you. Check your Reader (I use Google Reader) then when they have a good post, comment. People will find you. But don't be spammy.

9. Twitter. There is a reason it's last. Twitter can suck up your time like a Shop Vac. Set a timer and tweet at particular times of the day, every day. Make a commitment and you will build relationships.

10. Measure your results. There is a post about Google Analytics - great tool to watch your blog hits and find out where people are coming from - sites, searches, direct etc. Facebook Insights is a good tool on Fan Pages to see how many people are visiting your page, trends in how many fans you are getting. Twittergrader.com has some Twitter stats. Find out what's working for you.

So that's it - easy peasy, right? Just make sure you are taking small steps and don't get overwhelmed. You can download the full report either at www.10StepstoSocialMediaSuccess.com or at www.GrandmaMaryShow.com where I have more video tutorials.

I also will have my new product coming out on September 16th - 30 Days to Social Media Mastery that's going to go very in depth. More information will be on my website soon!

To Your Success!

Grandma Mary
www.GrandmaMaryShow.com
www.Twitter.com/GrandmaMaryShow
www.Facebook.com/GrandmaMaryShow