Top strategic tips for small businesses

I was speaking today at a conference for women in business. My topic was how social media marketing techniques can work for small businesses. I was amazed by how many people said they were flirting with these things, but without any real strategy behind their output.

• None of the audience had any kind real strategy for making these techniques part of their marketing plan.
• Most had flirted with Facebook or Twitter, but without any idea why they were doing it.
• Few had stopped to consider having any kind of strategy for their content or the context in which they would use it.
• Few had considered that options like Facebook and Twitter were efficient vehicles to amplyfy their content to a wider audience.
• Almost no-one had considered reading what was already out there, and no-one in the room had thought about engaging with others before they started blogging and tweeting.

I think these findings are pretty representative of many small businesses right now. I found an interesting article on the blog site of www.smartblogs.com. I've crunched it down somewhat, but you can read the full article at: http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2010/02/24/live-from-oms-the-10-step-content-strategy/

1. Assess the need - start by asking who your ideal reader is. You need to be able to visualize that person and focus clearly on his or her persona to create content that resonates with that audience.

2.Get a sense for the competitive landscape. Where does your desired audience get information? Determine if there is a need that isn’t being filled and if you can own that gap.

3.Find out what stories people are telling about your brand or industry sector. Listen to what your desired customers are saying. Survey them, if possible, and integrate what you learn into your plan.

4.Choose your corporate voice. Make sure your voice fits with your core corporate values and stays consistent across channels. Your corporate voice will be defined by your audience demographics and company goals. It shouldn’t be confusing to your audience in any way.

5.Know your core keywords.There are relatively inexpensive ways to find out the best keywords to target on your site. Checkout wordtracker and Keyword Discovery as places to start.

6.Commit to your blog.The blog should be the hub for your marketing activities, with platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In as the spokes.

7.Make content educational, not promotional. Tell stories about problems your customers have, don’t just pitch your product. Consider asking for registration/further engagement with your audience at the end of your content — once readers are hooked — rather than at the beginning. Shoot for 200 to 400 words, which is the sweet spot for blog-post length, and don’t forget to augment your content with video whenever possible.

8.Integrate your content with the other social-media channels.Embed social media into your content — even if your content is PDFs of case studies, e-books or white papers. Give readers the opportunity to engage in your content and share it with their networks. Lightweight ways to encourage reader engagement include adding a “like” button to your content, plugging in Facebook Connect and including discussion threads for blog comments.

9.Create a content calendar.Build the calendar at least three months ahead. Make sure it includes season- and industry-related events and is accessible companywide.

10.Tend to reader comments.  Last, but definitely not least, leave no reader comment unattended.