Owsinski - Social Media Promotion for Small Business and Entrepreneurs: The Manual For Marketing Your Products And Business Online

Bobby Owsinskis

Social Media Promotion

for Small Business and Entrepreneurs

The Manual For Marketing Your Products

or Your Business Online

Social Media Promotion for Small Business and Entrepreneurs

The Manual For Marketing Your Products And Business Online

by Bobby Owsinski

Published by:

Bobby Owsinski Media Group

4109 West Burbank, Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91505

Bobby Owsinski 2013

ISBN 13: 978-0-9888391-4-4

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Please note that much of this publication is based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Although the author and publisher have made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy of the content in this Guide, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Also, you should use this information as you see fit, and at your own risk. Your particular situation may not be exactly suited to the examples illustrated herein; in fact, it's likely that they won't be the same, and you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations accordingly.

Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

Finally, nothing in this Guide is intended to replace common sense, legal, medical or other professional advice, and is meant to inform and entertain the reader.

To buy books in quantity for corporate use or incentives, call 818.588.6606 or email .

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Introduction

Through the years, the ability to reach an audience quickly and cheaply has grown in ways unavailable to previous generations of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Not only do we live in an age where the resources and technical power available for creating a business is far greater than ever before, but the small business owner or entrepreneur also has new abilities in developing an audience for that business as well. In fact, a small business owner or an entrepreneur can now reach out directly to his businesss fans, followers, customers or clients, and theyre able to reach right back.

What this means is that its now possible to communicate, promote, sell to and generally keep in touch with your customers and clients without the need for a middleman like was needed in the past. In order to do that, you need to use the many online tools available to you, like the various social media networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and the like) coupled with a website, blog and email list among other things. The problem is that all these tools at our disposal can be virtually useless, not to mention time-consuming, without a strategy.

The whole premise of what I outline in Social Media Promotion for Small Business and Entrepreneurs is the use of social media for promotion, not just personal use. Personal use is casual while promotional use is professional, and that makes a big difference when it comes to your online approach and mindset. Youre not just reaching out to your family and friends, youre communicating with customers and clients (although some may also be your family and friends). Theres a right way to do it, and theres a lot more that goes into it than meets the eye.

When it comes to using social media for promotion, the general idea is to keep the discourse professional (although its okay to vary from that occasionally), provide your clients and fans with the latest information about your business, and measure how well that exchange of information takes place. The measurement part is at once the easiest and the toughest of the three. Theres a lot of data available to you from all sorts of sources that you cant get from traditional media, but evaluating that info to see just how well youre doing isnt always easy.

Likewise, theres a timing issue to social media thats many times overlooked. Its not only important how you communicate, but when you do it as well. For every online communication method, there are certain times during the day and week that youll most effectively reach the most people in and out of your network. This is one of the main issues in social media promotion and youll find quite a bit about the latest studies in this book that can prove quite helpful to your online strategy.

Of course, the more information you have, the more efficient you become, which is important if youre a creative person of any type. One of the problems with social media is that it can be a runaway train of time and energy if youre not careful. Hopefully the information you find in this book will help you have more time to do the thing you do best and probably enjoy the most - create.

Social Media Promotion for Small Business and Entrepreneurs looks at every area of your online life and shows you how to use it as a promotional tool. Youll learn the ins and outs of services and features that you didnt even know existed, and youll learn exactly how to use them to your benefit, as well as the latest concepts in using social media for promotion.

So settle back and enjoy the book. Youll find a lot of information in this one place that you wont find anywhere else, and hopefully youll find it most helpful to the growth of your business.

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Chapter 1

Its Called Promotion

There are a lot of books and articles that you can read that will provide some excellent information about using just about any social media service available online today. The trouble is, casually using a social network is not using it for promotion. Lets say that again:

Using Is Not Promotion

Promotion requires a much different set of tactics, which well cover in depth as we go along in the book. Not only are the methods different, but so is the mindset, since were not talking about any kind of promotion, were talking self-promotion, which can be singularly uncomfortable for many people.

The Meaning Of Self-Promotion

I grew up in a small town in rural Pennsylvania (population around 5,000) in a middle class family that believed in hard work as the means to get ahead in life. In my family (as well as many others in the area), you never unnecessarily talked about yourself with even the tinniest hint of self-satisfaction. If you were commended or received an award, it was expected that those outside the family would discover the fact through the natural buzz of people personally interacting, so there was no need to ever broadcast it yourself. To put it simply, self-promotion was the ultimate dirty word because it was somehow connected with an expanded ego.

Self-promotion doesnt have to be ego-induced bragging though, and thats exactly what I mean in the context of your online presence or that of your business. It doesnt require you posting how great you are, trying to sell yourself, or an exhibition of any kind of elevated self-esteem. Most of us hate that kind of behavior online or offline anyway, and the results are mostly negative as a result.

That said, self-promotion using social media is about three things: communicating, interacting, and measuring. Its more about telling your fans, friends, customers and followers the latest news about your business, rather than how cool it is because of those facts. Its about letting your fans, clients and customers know youre still around before youre forgotten. Its about informing them that your new product is being released instead of trying to sell it to them. Its all about context. Its not about you as much as it is about the information about you. Thats the first part of self-promotion.