Kinetic Marketing and Design - Grimsby Graphic Design, Advertising and Marketing

If you make and keep one New Year’s Resolution for your business it should be to make 2012 the year you really get stuck into social media. I have waxed lyrical in previous blogs about the benefits to small businesses - it is low cost although does require the time resource. Unfortunately time is a scarce commodity for most small business owners and directors, so despite its potential I know it can be a struggle to find the time to fit it in.

So I thought I would put together some tips and strategies to help you fit social media into your day. I cannot add an extra couple of hours to your day, but I may give you a couple of ideas that can help.

One of the biggest impacts social media has had on how businesses market themselves is not about low cost routes to market or the ability to ‘engage’ (I hate that word) with your audience, I believe it is the shift is emphasis from pushing out controlled sales messages to sharing knowledge and expertise.

But for many business owners this does not sit comfortably.

I have had conversations with business owners who do not want to publish case studies in case there competitors see them (not that most of us don’t have a very good idea of who our competitors are working with anyway). I also come across the argument about the giving away of knowledge for free, especially for service companies where their knowledge is usually attached with a fee or charge.

So what is the happy medium? What are the arguments for being more open with the sharing of your knowledge be it through blogs, forums or free guides or white papers?

In a financial climate where every penny of marketing spend counts, I am always surprised at how many small businesses fail to utilise one of their cheapest forms of advertising – editorial coverage or PR, especially in local media.

Now I am not a PR expert and have always deferred to specialist PR agencies and consultants when working on national brands and large businesses. They have the contacts and knowledge about what is newsworthy and what the editors are looking for.

But getting your business in your local paper, local business pages, e-publication or trade magazine is something that is worth spending some time and effort on and doesn’t necessarily need PR specialists. And, if done correctly, this is effort that can pay off exponentially as you build relationships with editors, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's start at the beginning and debunk a few myths ...

I came across a great phrase which I am going to share - ‘pimping your content’. This is a phrase coined by John Watson, CMO of ShipServ and 2010 B2B Marketer of the Year. He talks about the intelligent re-using of content.

Create some content that supports your proposition. That demonstrates and substantiates what you want to be known for, what you are experts in and what the benefits your clients are left with. Once created, make sure this is intelligently recycled across all media and contact points of your campaigns.

So if you have written a blog or white paper, make sure you post it on social media sites. Email it to your client and prospect base. Add onto your website. You may even be able to get media coverage.