There is no doubt about the fact that to grow any business these days; some sort of participation in social media is necessary. With so many choices and so little time to understand how it all fits together, however, small businesses are clearly overwhelmed.  In order to make good choices and create a plan that is tailored to your skill level and needs, you need to stop and take a deep breath before you go trying things willy nilly!

There are three considerations that business owners need to make prior to deciding which tool are the best for the job. Mind you- these will (or should) not be new to you. If they are foreign- then you need to take two steps back and re-evaluate your business marketing strategies because without them you will be lost.

1. Who is your target audience?

2. What are your goals?

3. How are you going to manage time spent on your social media efforts?

Who is your target audience? This one always seems to be more of a challenge than I hope for clients and perhaps it is because they tend to have more than one audience-which is OK! But- in order for your marketing to be effective you need to focus on one at a time. Work through the specifics of this audience to get really clear.

Categories: If you are selling financial services to the elderly for example, you might be targeting a few specific groups: Baby Boomers who are caring for their parents and don't have the resources to take on additional responsibilities.; You could be looking to get in front of residents of independent living  facilities for the "younger" generation of retired individuals who are still somewhat independent.; You may also be looking to create some name recognition with the above mentioned facilities' personnel to offer your value added service to their clients... See how this goes.

Geography: Are you looking to establish yourself locally and provide in-person service to your clients? If so, you need to think about the names of towns, regions, and states that you want to target. Perhaps you want to only travel within a 30 mile radius of your house, or in New England, etc. If however, you want to be known nationally- then that's a different story all together.

Tools: The tools you will choose to reach these groups will depend on whom you are targeting. If you are looking to reach those 75 year olds directly, Facebook may not be your best choice.  If you are trying to reach local facility administrators, however, LinkedIn might be a great place to start.

What are your Goals? This is another heavy hitter as far as challenging your thinking. Do you have a specific number of new clients you would like to obtain as a result of your efforts?  Do you want to become a leader in your field or be revered as an expert? Perhaps you want to have lined up 3 seminars for 25 people in the next three months. Whatever the case may be, this exercise is designed to guide your strategic marketing decisions.

How are you going to manage it all? Now that you know why you are doing all of this and who your target audience is, you need to put your ideas in motion. This is where you should be seeing yellow CAUTION tape in your mind, because there is a quicksand minefield waiting for you on the other side! You think I am kidding? Ask anyone who uses Twitter and see how easy it is to spend a whole day tweeting and clicking on links and re-tweeting. Can this be a good thing? Absolutely! But as I heard Rick Burnes, Inbound Marketing Manager at HubSpot indicate today on his webinar How to Manage your Social Media in 10 Minutes a Day- if you are spending an excessive amount of time working on your social media- you are detracting from the other things like customer service, lead follow-up and billable work. Additionally, if you are too deep into the mix, you may not be able to listen and learn from what your audience is telling you. (Paraphrased)

In summary: There are so many advantages to using social media to grow your business and make valuable connections with fellow professionals.

Some Benefits

o   Can reach a lot of people with little work.

o   Can implement several marketing campaigns at once.

o   Can use these programs to drive traffic to your website or brick and mortar business.

o   Can find valuable information and resources.

o   Gain credibility across professions.

Some Pitfalls

o   Can be time consuming if not careful about goals and time management.

o   If profiles are not filled out adequately or you are not providing quality content, you may lose visitors and/or valuable opportunities.

o   If used inappropriately, your reputation can be tainted.

So, if you are going to take anything away from this blog post- remember to look at the big picture and start with TARGET AUDIENCE, GOALS and HOW MUCH TIME you really have to dedicate to the plan. Then put it all together in a purposeful and professional fashion.

Helpful Links:

http://www.hubspot.com This organization offers educational webinars and all sorts of free tools that you can use to manage your social media marketing efforts.

http://www.commoncraft.com This site is full of simple and clear videos about social media and other topics.

http://www.twitter.com

http://www.linkedin.com

http://www.facebook.com

There are certainly benefits to both social networking and networking in person. Is one really better than the other? Well, I guess my answer is that in order to really develop quality relationships, face-to-face is the best way. Is that always possible in today's technological age of communicating online all over the world? Not always.

Social networking makes is very convenient for the non-socialites to stay cocooned in their own little world. Sure, they talk to people on the phone, over Skype, they Twitter and blog, but I would argue that the bulk of that interaction with the outside world only creates a "surface relationship." Whereas an interpersonal relationship requires getting to know the other person more deeply.

Think about it. When you are working in email for example, you are or should be cautious about the wording, try not to respond in haste or in anger, because you never know how the person on the other end is reacting to your message. So, you avoid taking chances due to the lack of seeing the reaction. Right? If you are talking to someone in person, however, you will be able to see the reaction and address any awkwardness or misunderstanding right then and there. You can also take visual cues to delve into various areas of conversation. This could lead to more business opportunities or simply allow the discovery of common ground for further conversation.

How about listening to a variety of conversations at once. Sure- it can happen online, but when you are out in a social setting, you can listen to conversations, perhaps learn something by doing that, or because your interest is peaked- you ask to join the conversation. The next thing you know, you are meeting new people and they are meeting you. If you are trying to grow a business, having a face to go with a name and business card is a lot better than nothing!

Creativity- want to see the Aha! Moments? Get out and start talking to people about what they are up to?  After all, you will only seek out the information you need online and when in person are more apt ask what's happening and also to talk about what you are doing. New ideas happen through personal conversations and finding out how your services or product can fill a void in the marketplace.

Knowing what others are doing in either in your industry or in business generally is critical to being a good business owner. Why? Because you will be behind the eight ball if your competition is learning new skills, has a finger on the pulse of their clients' needs and what's happening in the world. They will be jumping on opportunities while you are sitting in your own little space with your head down claiming that you have too much work to do! It's called educating others about what you do. The more of that you can do, the more referral sources you will find and the more resources you will find for your clients.

Finding a balance between online and in person networking is what I would consider to be the best option. Social networking certainly offers the means to keep in touch easily and often with lots of people and if you are trying to sell your products or services, it keeps you visible and on others' minds.   You can update your peers with your new stuff, exchange ideas and even seek help and resources. But, if you want to forge a long lasting and quality relationship, you should consider finding a way to meet in person.

This blog post is a perfect example of why face-to-face gets the job done. If it wasn't for having met Brian Teeman in person at the CMS Expo in Chicago several times, I don't know that our online conversations would have ever gone farther than hello. But, because we have met in person and kept conversations going online, we discovered that we can work together to keep both of our blogs lively and I look to him to offer me ideas, which he graciously does. This post can also be found on his site as a guest post!

So, the next time you realize that you have been in your office for a solid week and haven't even attempted to get out in public- get up, grab your coat and head out to your favorite coffee shop or bar. Find yourself an empty seat next to someone you don't know and start talking! Too scared to do that? Get over it!

If you are going to tell me you just have too much to do and too little time I will respond in one of two ways:

1.     Perhaps you are taking on more than you can handle! I know that saying no to work feels like saying no to your mother, but consider the option of saying no today, but yes to a deadline of two weeks from now.

2.     Perhaps you are frittering away hours in a day playing with your new iPhone or chatting on Twitter. Have you ever taken inventory on how you spend your valuable time at the office each day?

Having said that....I would also like to recommend doing one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is taxing on your productivity no matter how well you can do it. Don't get me wrong- I am a fairly chronic multi-tasker myself, but when I am heads down and focused on one project completely- my ability to be productive and effective triples!

It's not a wonder that children have ADD (not to mention lots of adults I know who seemed to contract it as business owners) - we are inundated with technological overload; working with two different monitors, twittering on phones, updating our Linked In profile, Skyping with friends and colleagues all over the world, not to mention watching fast paced commercials and shows on the television.... and the list goes on and on.

So, start evaluating how you spend your time on a given day and to the best of your ability begin to compartmentalize your day. At the very least, realistically prioritize the projects on your plate in order of how they will help you achieve your financial goals or business development- whatever you deem important. Then you must practice doing it consistently.

When in doubt, I always fall back on what my friend says to me: Will someone die if you don't get this done today? If the answer is no, well then...

Let me tell you, I love working with web developers, especially in the Joomla CMS world who develop staging sites. Why you ask? Well, there are two really good reasons for me personally as a content writer:

1. If the developer gives me admin access, I can just input all the content I am writing for the client as I go. There is nothing that frustrates me more than having to send word docs to the developer and then waiting for them to input it all. This reason goes hand-in-hand with #2.

2. I am a visual learner and although I don't always know what I would like something to look like prior to- I know it's right when I see it. This works with writing as well for me since the design, the brand and the organization of the website and content all go together.

There are additional benefits to this as well for the end user or client. They can see progress all along the way. They can also begin to understand how it all goes together and why certain things take more time. Lastly, they become engaged in conversations that help them understand all the things they didn't in the initial scope of work discussions. You know what I'm talking about....The clients are nodding yes to all sorts of things, but you can see on their face that they have no idea what you are talking about until they have something built on the staging site.

Joomla is such a wonderful tool for me and having used it for my own site and for several of my clients, I am completely spoiled. I love to have at least some control over the content and it sure helps me to keep projects moving forward because the developer isn't always screaming about lack of content!

So, if you are a developer and you have a good content writer who is saavy about Joomla- let them in (if you know they won't fiddle with things too much). You will be happy you did. If you don't believe me- ask Jen Kramer www.4webinc.com she'll tell you!