7 Ways to Build a Personal Brand Out of College

Rob Stretch is a marketing major at the University of Missouri, graduating this May. On the side, works in VA Mortgage Center.com’s online marketing department part-time, working on SEO and social media related projects.

As a college student almost ready to graduate, I am extremely concerned with personal branding. Resumes are not just pieces of paper anymore. For better or worse, companies are becoming more and more concerned with candidates’ appearance on social networks as well as online reputation in general.

And it’s not just college students that should care. Potential clients and customers often track a company or professional’s online presence before doing business. Enter the world of personal branding and online reputation management. Below is a list of what you can do today to start maintaining a positive online presence.

1. If you don’t have one, start a blog or online portfolio

Go ahead and register yourname.com. If it’s not available, try your-name.com, stick a middle name or initial in there, or get creative. Use a .net if you need to. The point is, as more and more people are getting online, domain real estate is getting harder and harder to come by. Get ahead of the curve and register your property today.

2. Get active on Facebook

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure that you’re one of the 160 million that have a Facebook profile. Congratulations, now put it to use. Make sure your pictures reflect you, if you don’t like how one portrays your image, un-tag it. If you don’t want potential employers/clients/associates to see unflattering pictures of you then delete them or change your privacy settings. Make sure you’re participating in the conversation – use status updates a little more sparingly than Twitter but make sure you’re staying active.

3. Join the conversation on Twitter

If you you’re one of those people who refuse to get on Twitter, get over it and try it out. Start following key players in your industry or concentration. Start mentioning them, you never know when they’ll reply back. Most importantly, spend a little time on your profile. Search for customizable Twitter templates and make a background for yourself. Check out TwitBacks to start. It is pretty easy to look professional on Twitter with a little elbow grease.

4. Get LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a great way to connect to people as well as groups in your industry. Make sure you completely fill out your profile, upload your resume, and start connecting to people you know. More connections will follow. One great reason to have a LinkedIn profile is the recommendations feature. Start writing recommendations for your friends and they should return the favor. This can be a great way for potential employers/clients to notice you online.

5. Create your social footprint

Now you have a blog and three active social media profiles. Link them! Creating a social web is the best way to funnel people into your new brand. You should have icons near the top of your blog that link back to all three. Also, make sure you link all three back to your blog where they ask you to list personal websites. Finally, make sure as you are writing blog posts you are linking them on your Facebook and Twitter statuses.

6. Brand to tangibles

Include the URLs of your blog and profiles on your resume and business cards. Imagine you’re in the shoes of your potential employer. You are handed two resumes. One of the resumes has a link to your personal blog full of insightful posts which then leads them to the rest of your social web. The other resume is just a piece of paper with accomplishments. Think interactivity. Which one looks better?

7. Monitor your image

Check on your personal branding “campaign”. Run a Google search on your name in quotations and see what pops up. Another great tool for monitoring your web presence is Who’s Talking.

The information available online about you can be overwhelming, even scary at times. But this doesn’t have to be viewed as a negative of the information age. With proper personal branding and reputation management, spend a little time and you should come out on top of all of your competitors.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Set Up and Run a Social Media Campaign (slideshare.net)
• Why Google Buzz is brilliant and deadly to social media 1.0 (christopherspenn.com)
• Aggregate Your Social Media Presence with Social Life (wpjedi.com)

Change is Money

Today’s guest post is written by Nathan Frampton. Nathan is President of Fanimation, Inc., manufacturer of high quality and unique ceiling fans. Nathan lives in Zionsville, IN with his wife and daughter and is active in the local community.

To all those I currently write checks to, I figured out how you can make more money and I would love to write you bigger checks. It has been my privilege and good fortune to work for my father over the last 20 years. Tom Frampton is an entrepreneur who founded a ceiling fan manufacturing company, Fanimation, in his garage at age 28.

Over the last 26 years his unique ceiling fan business, which is as much about fashion as it is about function, has evolved and grown to new heights. Two critical survival skills my Dad and Fanimation have taught me, however, stand out to me as timeless: the abilities of effectively dealing with change and a variety of people from all walks of life. This world has not, and will not stop throwing us challenges we have little to no control over: recessions that come in different shapes and sizes, market booms that at times make no sense and can be as hard to manage as downturns; and a variety of people that range from flexible and saintly, to stubborn and evil.

No matter what your industry or type of job is, one thing that is guaranteed to change, is CHANGE itself – the considerable, life altering kind.

Do you enjoy and savor that warm and fuzzy feeling you have about your income level, boss, and job duties? Do you love that new great software package you just converted to? Can’t imagine your morning, without that cute assistant who brings your coffee?

Don’t get too comfy; this too shall pass. Conversely, are you sick and tired of your boss who “doesn’t get it”? Are you unhappy with a job that doesn’t fit your well-rounded, yet specific skill set? Are you perplexed by the new software that is full of bugs? Frustrated by the cranky receptionist, who loves to route your calls to your inside competition?

Don’t get discouraged, this too shall pass. No matter what change comes your way, how you deal with it will make all the difference in the world. The ability to effectively manage and interact with people in a 360-degree manner is MONEY! Cold, hard, green, cash. Money!

Want more cheese to buy that new MDX? Get proficient and leading those underneath, next to and ABOVE you. Realize and don’t forget that those above you can be influenced in YOUR favor. One of the best things that ever happened to me was working for a boss who was immature and seemed to hate my guts. Figuring out how to manage him (even though he was my boss) is a skill I use to this day. Keep in mind, that I don’t just report to Dad, I have hundreds of customers, vendors, wives…well, just one wife. No matter who comes your way, how you deal with them will make all the difference in the world.

Finally, something we all tend to forget, and sometimes ignore, is that WE change. That our 5-year future selves will disagree, and on some points dramatically disagree, with our current selves is a fact of life that cannot be overstated, and is often times not considered.Next time you are sure about something, consider the fact you may one day think you were being a total idiot (if not about that one thing, it will be for another). How is that for humbling?

Think about this subject, put it into practice, and look for me to write you BIGGER checks.

Related articles by Zemanta

• There is Still Money Out There (myventurepad.com)
• Young Entrepreneur: The Future Looks Very Bright (entrepreneurideasclub.com)
• 10 “Must Have” Features in Today’s New Homes (hedbergrocks.blogspot.com)
• 5 Disasterous Mistakes Successful Online Entrepreneurs Must Avoid (entrepreneurideasclub.com)

Social Media: The Haven for New Ideas

Ali is a 2009 graduate of Hanover College. She works at an Indianapolis SEO company, Slingshot SEO, Inc., where she integrates the importance of SEO and social media in the blogosphere. She is an avid Tweeter and blogger. Ali is an upbeat person who loves working and communicating (in any form!) with everyone.

As I caught up with my daily blog feeds this week, I stumbled across a very interesting blog post by Copyblogger’s Jonathan Morrow entitled “The Alexander Graham Bell Guide to Changing the World.” Turns out, this post (and a swift kick to my backside to keep up with blogging) helped to sort through the mess in my brain and I was finally snapped out of my case of writer’s block. Halleluiah! So what DOES Alexander Graham Bell have to do with changing the internet marketing world?

Of course we all know that Bell changed the world with his invention of the telephone. Right? Actually, it’s safe to say that we were lied to as elementary school students (GASP!). Yep, according to the research, two men created the first two models of the telephone BEFORE Bell. Who knew?!  More importantly, how did Bell jump ahead of these fellow inventors and gain the credibility for the telephone?

Bell was a smart cookie. Instead of hording his communicating device idea in his bedroom, he spent years fighting to get his idea out in the world. He fought for the right to get HIS idea patented. Through his journey of changing the way people communicated, it was evident that Bell understood the most important aspect of getting information to the people. Morrow explains, “He [Bell] understood that what matters isn’t who thinks of an idea first. It’s not even who takes action first. It’s who spreads the idea the farthest.” Smart, huh?

This phenomenon is still alive today, possibly more than ever. We ALL have ideas upon ideas upon ideas (IDEAS, get the drift?) that we would love to ONE day share with the world…and then someone else finally DOES and then “my idea” becomes “his/her idea” and then you are back to square one. Is this you? I know I am definitely an idea pack rat (as Morrow describes). I’m sure I’m not alone.

So, what now? GET THAT INFORMATION OUT THERE! If you take the time to come up with a new, brilliant idea, why wouldn’t you want to share it? Fight like Bell did and your passion behind your ideas will be revealed and people will notice. Be that person who shares information and ideas with the rest of the world. Heck, isn’t that what the internet is for anyway?

My hope is that you see that I’m not saying that you need to create immensely creative and amazing inventions or come up with the ‘next big trend’ (although, face it, that’d be pretty sweet), but the internet allows us to take information that we learn from others and add our own understanding and thoughts (of course giving credit where credit is due!). We all have thoughts, right? Well, use social media to get those thoughts out instead of becoming an idea pack rat!

As writers in the internet-driven world, we know there is more of a focus on getting the information OUT to the masses, rather than being the first one to do so. This directly relates to Bell’s advice—spread it the FARTHEST. How do we do this? Social media. We tweet, post, blog, Flick new information 24-7. The new age of information and idea exchange is at our fingertips, only a keystroke away, how much more cliché can I get?

Have a case of writer’s block? Winter blues got you down? Dig through those ideas you have packed away and start typing. Fight for your ideas and be the passionate one who gets the word out, just as Alexander Graham Bell did, and who knows where you’ll end up!

Related articles by Zemanta

• #BlogIndiana: Jason Falls, Bloggers and the Google gods (marketing.blogtanker.com)
• Bell’s telegraph killer (kottke.org)
• The Alexander Graham Bell Guide to Changing the World (copyblogger.com)
• 3 Chords & the Truth: The Podcast Episode 2 (yesbutnobutyes.com)

The Lost Art of the Thank You Card

Today’s guest post is written by Serina Kelly. Serina owns a virtual assistant company called Relevate and does AWESOME work for my company Brandswag.

I remember when I was a little girl there was a part of me that dreaded such special occasions as birthdays and Christmas – definitely didn’t dread the receiving of the gifts, but having to write the thank you card afterwards.  For a young child, this was torture, and I would venture to say, others still think of it that way as adults.  Nowadays, we don’t have our parents telling making us write them out – and it’s a shame.

As a society, we have become accustomed to the fast track of saying thanks – if we say it at all.  We shoot out a quick email or text message and think we can check that off of our list.  You know as well as I do that we are bombarded with emails and texts every single day.  Any of us bombarded with receiving a thank you card the old fashioned way – through snail mail?  I doubt it.  And you can probably remember the last time you received a genuine thank you card.

I challenge you to take that extra few minutes today and send a thank you card to someone.  This expression of appreciation and thoughtfulness will go a long way in helping you build those relationships we all want in our lives – both personally and professionally.

Blubbering Blogger

Today’s guest post is by Melissa Mattingly. Melissa is a graduate from Depauw University in 2007 and works for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association in the membership department. She is a cheer coach at Speedway High School and lives within walking distance to the Indy 500 withhusband Eric, and crazy mutt, Knuckles.

It takes me approximately 4 minutes to decide what I want to order when I go to McDonalds even though the dollar menu is probably my favorite “cookbook.” Sit me down in a fancy restaurant; you can bump it up to 15. Put me in a department store fitting room and you’d think I might have been taken hostage. Holy cow, it can take me an hour to decide what I (@MelMatto if you’re interested) should tweet!  Ask me to write a post about social media and the blog might be extinct by the time I’m done. Alright, I’m not that bad – but when Kyle said my timeframe for completion was “as soon as possible…450 words or less” I almost fainted.

Within this past year I thought I really wanted to start a blog. The problem I ran into is that I didn’t know why. Was it just for myself? Was I hoping to throw insight to helpless followers? I didn’t know what I wanted out of it and I still feel like that should be rule #1 when starting a blog. If you can’t even fill out the “about” section how are you suppose to have a successful blog?  I know some people just wing it and as the blog ages, it grows into something with meaning – but I’m way too OCD for that. I’m more of a step-by-step kind of gal. Give me a recipe; I’ll bake you a cake. Give me instructions; I’ll build the best Lego castle you’ve ever seen. But simply throwing food and Lego’s at me will only result in one colorful, crunchy lump of dough.

I even went as far as creating a page (seen here) but never started because I knew when I started I would have to keep up with it and what if I ran out of ideas? What if – gasp! – no one cared what I had to say but my mom. Most importantly, does the web really need another blogger? Does the web really need another so called “professional” to give their opinion on a topic they may have minute experience with? I remember around 10 years ago when the only bloggers were tweens with an open heart diary. Now there are so many conflicting opinions to process it’s turning into a psychological disease. “Information Overload,” according to Wikipedia, states: “As the world moves into a new era of globalization, an increasing number of people are connecting to the Internet to conduct their own research and are given the ability to produce as well as consume the data accessed on an increasing number of websites. Users are now classified as active users because more people in society are participating in the Digital and Information Age. This flow has created a new life where we are now dependent on access to information. Therefore we see an information overload from the access to so much information, almost instantaneously, without knowing the validity of the content and the risk of misinformation. When the individual is plunged into a fast and irregularly changing situation or a novelty-loaded context … his predictive accuracy plummets. He can no longer make the reasonably correct assessments on which rational behavior is dependent.”

Now again, Wikipedia (in a sense) could be seen as another blogger so maybe this statement has no warrant to some of you but where does it stop? I’m proud to be an American and believe in free speech to its’ fullest but can blogging dumb people down? Does it cause people to rely too much on what others say instead of making their own decisions? I, for one, honestly don’t have any answers. But if I do – maybe that would be a good topic to start my blog.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Social Media from a Generation Y Perspective (kylelacy.com)
• Learn Social Media by Example: The Zack16 Campaign (thoughtpick.com)
• Is the art of following-up lost in the age of social media? (socialmediatoday.com)

Social Media + SEO = Social Media Infrastructure

Since 2002, Chad H. Pollitt has played an integral role in designing, developing, deploying, executing and tracking robust web marketing strategies for over 100 client companies and organizations and is an Internet Marketing Expert.Chad is a decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and an Internet Marketing Manager at Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc., the leading web development and internet marketing agency in the Midwest. His white papers and articles have been published in over a dozen newspapers and websites throughout the world. With over 10 million dollars of tracked ROI for SEO alone, he has been featured on multiple radio shows, podcasts and in The Wall Street Journal.

View the slideshow presentation of this blog here > Social Media Infrastructure

How do you optimize social media to come up in search? What social media sites should I use for my business? Won’t social media take up all of my time? These are questions I get every day and the answer is simple: Build a Social Media Infrastructure.

1. What is a Social Media Infrastructure? Definition: Social media platforms chosen for engagement and how they are connected to one another with a Blog at its base pushing content to other platforms.
2. Why should I build a Social Media Infrastructure?

• SEO – By connecting your social media platforms via RSS and traditional backlinks you are building a “keyword neighborhood” that will raise the relevancy of all of your web platforms in the infrastructure for those keywords.  The result, if properly executed, will be multiple first page results for some of the keyword phrases in your “keyword neighborhood.”
• Saves Time – With a Blog at the base of your infrastructure you won’t have to post content on multiple platforms.  Once the infrastructure is in place you will only have to post once.
• Increases Reach, SOV and Website Referral Traffic – The more social media platforms used in the infrastructure the more people will see your content, brand and message resulting in more referral traffic for your conversion platform or website.
• 3 C’s – You will have Consistency, Clarity and Congruency of message throughout the web.

3.  How do I build a Social Media Infrastructure?

• Do a Keyword Workshop
• Gather your digital assets (video, pics, graphics, audio, presentations, press releases, etc.)
• Build a Blog
• Choose multiple social media platforms based on your digital assets and target demographic
• Connect the platforms with links, RSS feeds and widgets (recommend http://twitterfeed.com as a start).
• Make sure lead generation websites, microsites and/or landing pages are linked into the infrastructure.

What Is Social Media? I Mean Really.

Jonathan is a 2008 graduate of the Farmer School at Miami University. He works at a small web development firm in Cincinnati where he brings a fresh interdisciplinary approach to project management and business operations. He’s always either checking in or tweeting his iPhone and he’s passionate about people and bringing digital connections into reality. He’s an active blogger for continuous web and a founder of the group’s Cincinnati meet-up. Got questions, shoot him an e-mail

What (the hell) is social media? I hate that question. I even hate the term. It’s truly just the Internet. It’s so many things and it’s expanding every day and, quite honestly, I don’t care how it’s defined. What’s great about everything that’s happening in the digital space right now is that it can mean something different to every single one of us. Let me explain:

In game theory, utility is defined as “a measure of that which is sought to be maximized in any situation involving a choice” Another definition says “the state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial.”

Here are the important words that I see in those definitions: choice, maximized, useful, beneficial. What’s so great about those words? They can mean entirely different things to you than they do to me. They’re all tied to intrinsic value, REAL value…not market value — and “real” means whatever I decide that it means. It’s what is essential to me.

What does utility have to do with social media? In short: everything. In our country, we seem to have a fixation on ROI. In a social space, it’s difficult impossible to put a measurable ROI on interaction…on being involved. ROI in this space is, by definition, unquantifiable. How many dollars will I make? How many customers will I gain? Traditionally, that’s how a business might measure its return on investment when investing its time, people, research, and dollars into a new venture. When investing in social media there needs to be a paradigm shift.

Someday soon, it won’t be about the ROI some business gets for investing in social media — it will be about the ROI that a consumer person gets for investing in a brand. (aside: i’m not talking about a financial investment, I’m talking time and energy. The important question will be “What do I get for interacting with your brand”) That ROI will be measured in utility.

I believe that we’ll see a shift toward a consumer-centric economy where extrinsic value is replaced by intrinsic value. @nickseguin and I have had many discussions about the importance of intrinsic value and how the success or failure of a brand will correlate directly with its ability to engage its audience. Rather than brands and organizations asking about ROI, they’ll be asking how they can improve the consumer experience. The consumers will be the ones making decisions based on ROI.

As a rational (economically) consumer of goods and services, I will be choosing to engage with brands (products, services, organizations, etc.) that provide me with utility.  The paradigm shift that I mention earlier relates directly to this — brands are losing control of not only the content, but the medium on which that content is exchanged. Social media The Internet will be how i digest this content. At my convenience. AT. MY. CONVENIENCE.

As consumers, we will become the center of the universe for brands. And damn it, I can’t wait!

Social Media from a Generation Y Perspective

Jenn Lisak is a senior marketing major at Butler University who is currently looking for a post-graduation job utilizing her skills in marketing, advertising, and social media. She is currently interning at TF Publishing in Indianapolis, and she is passionate about social media communication.

Almost ten years ago, I joined social media networks, such as MySpace and Facebook, for the sole purpose of staying connected with my friends and family on the worldwide web. Most of Generation Y joined these networks for this reason, and I would even argue that we initiated the social media movement over the span of the last decade. We constantly updated our statuses, we posted pictures, and we created an online community that our parents joked about. Little did they know that social media would become a part of their lives soon enough. (And not just as a social network either).

In the past year alone, business executives and corporations have become a large part of the social media community, especially on Twitter. In November of 2009, I decided to create an account on Twitter in order to find out more about these major corporations and what’s happening in the business world. However, I noticed that this social network was different from what I knew, and that I wanted to use it differently than MySpace or Facebook. During my first couple of days on Twitter, I simply looked at what other people posted and got a general feel for the network. When I was exploring the site, I stumbled upon even more social media networks that people were using, and I observed a difference in how these networks were used as well. Finally, I came to an important realization; these networks, including MySpace and Facebook, weren’t just used for social communication anymore. The world of social media had transformed into a place to market brand names, to post news stories, to provide customer service, and to become more knowledgeable about many different fields. In other words, social media had changed for me. Social media had changed for everyone!

Social media networks have become playgrounds for businesses: they’re free, fun, and accessible. But these businesses take up social media space. So, what does this mean for Generation Y? For one, we are shocked that the Baby Boomers and Generation X have taken over the online community that we initiated. On the other hand, we know that we now have complete access to business professionals and social media experts that we would not have access to otherwise. But the best part about the change is that the social media revolution has created thousands of awesome jobs that WE can fill!

Where do I think social media is going? I think it’s going in exactly the right direction. Technology and social media communication have provided us with resources that we need to embrace instead of resist. Social media isn’t just a pastime anymore — it’s a necessary tool for businesses to serve their customers more effectively. It’s created a whole job industry in the midst of a recession. For some, it’s created a lifestyle. And it gives us access to the people we want to know about.

My advice to all businesses is to use social media. Decide what you want to represent in the social media world. Integrate your marketing communications across all channels. Most importantly, don’t just use social media for the benefit of yourself. Use it to create a community, help other people, and learn from the experts! Just as Becky Robinson said, social media is about relationships. Make them and use them!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Why Niche-Oriented Social Networking Web Sites Are More Successful For On-Line Job (marketingonlineinternet.com)
• Creepy Ways Your Social Media Data Can Be Used (ecommercetimes.com)
• What we can learn from how the victims in Haiti are using social media (thecustomercollective.com)
• HOW TO: Take Advantage of Social Media in Your E-mail Marketing (mashable.com)

Social Media Changed My Life!

This weeks guest blog post is by Becky Robinson, a social media consultant and blogger for Mountain State University.   (Do you want more than that?) If so: She is also the mother of three daughters and currently lives in Chicago, IL.

This week marks the one year anniversary of my entry into the social media world.

I am going to say something bold (and risk sounding corny, too):

SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED MY LIFE.

I am still the same person at my core: my values, my beliefs, and my purpose, but becoming involved in social media has changed my habits, my activities, and my aspirations. I have a new career path and every day brings new relationships and opportunities.

My social media involvement started with Facebook, last New Year’s Day. Less than a month into my Facebook experiment, I reconnected with lots of old friends. Then one day, a high school classmate I hadn’t talked to or seen in more than twenty years posted a status update looking for freelance writers.

I have always wanted to write. At age 8, my friends and I created newspapers and went door to door trying to sell them. As a preteen, I filled a series of flannel covered journals with lines of poetry and stories.

I majored in creative writing in college but after graduation I got married, went to grad school, and got a job (not writing). After several years of 9 to 5, and 12 weeks of maternity leave, I wanted nothing more than to stay home with my daughter, so that’s what I did. Three daughters and 8 years later, I had a store of creative energy waiting to be unleashed.

Being involved in social media has given me an outlet for creativity and means for connecting in relationships with people all over the world. On a personal level, blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are just plain fun.

Professionally, though, social media has provides an amazing platform for building not only my personal brand, but also the brand of the university that I represent.

My old friend John, who got me started with freelancing, works for the marketing department at Mountain State University. When I became a part of the team there, we started to explore the impact we could make with social media.

We started with a blog. To the blog, we added a Twitter presence. Then we started to experiment with expanding the university’s Facebook presence.

The whole point of social media for Mountain State – for anyone – is relationships. We are finding new approaches to connect with current students, new ways to make our brand known to potential students. We are finding new methods to delight and engage our students, and new avenues to involve them in community with each other.

And you know the best part? It’s really just plain fun.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Try a Slow Media Diet for 2010 (lifehacker.com)
• Got Caught With My Pants Down and My Ink Dry? What’s My Next Move? (agentgenius.com)
• Avatar Makes a Billion Dollars (mashable.com)
• Social Media: More Than Meets the Eye? (myventurepad.com)

Integrate Social Media into Your Marketing Strategy

The guest post today is by Shelley Cadamy is currently the Business & Entrepreneurial Services Coordinator for Francis Tuttle Technology Center.  She assists start-up as well as existing small businesses in strategy development and implementation.

About a year ago, I fell into being a “social media expert.” I use the quotes, because I’m really not convinced there are all that many actual social media experts out there, and I’m certainly not one of them. As a small business strategist, one of the things I assist my clients with is creating quick and dirty marketing plans. As such, I created a seminar on how my clients could effectively use social media tools in their marketing. It was wildly successful (one client picked up three new customers the first three days they were on Twitter), and the one seminar I expected to do turned into about thirty seminars and counting. Unfortunately, when I get introduced, to my chagrin, it’s as a “social media expert,” which I quickly correct, after much cringing.

Having said that, I’m amazed at how many people are more than happy to promote themselves as “social media experts.” Every third twitter follow I get is from some IT guy who may have difficulty with interpersonal communication, but is now a social media expert. Or an HR Director who believes that since he is successful at using social media in his HR position, that he is also qualified to do social media on behalf of other people. Or an accountant who is on Facebook and Twitter 24/7 and thus, must be a social media expert and believes himself completely qualified to do social media on behalf of you or your company.

When it comes right down to it, social media is a marketing tactic, and just like old school marketing tactics – direct mail, TV & Radio advertising, print advertising, etc. – lots and lots of difficult homework must be completed before they’re ever employed on behalf of your company. They must be used as part of an overall marketing strategy that makes sense for your company, your market, and your resources. Those marketing plans are not easy to create, and the reason they’re not easy to create is because they take actual marketing knowledge and understanding to craft – something which marketing professionals have plenty of and something of which IT guys, accountants, and HR professionals are generally fresh out.

If you’re a small business owner, do you know who your market is and why? Do you know what they want? Do you know what your message to your market should be? Then and only then should you be getting your message out to that market via social media or any other media. If you don’t have the answers to these questions, please find a marketing professional to help you find them and to help you implement the resulting plan. If you choose to hire someone to assist specifically with your social marketing as well, please ensure that he or she is also a marketing professional. You wouldn’t hire a marketing professional to manage your EEO claims – please don’t hire an HR professional to do your marketing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 8 biggest mistakes made in social media (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
• Why Are We Failing To Help Small Business Understand Social Media? (thecustomercollective.com)
• Profit Specialist (slideshare.net)
• Get ready for lots of small IPOs (vator.tv)