Exposure for your business is key to being found and having some credibility online. Â Your business may have a local, regional, national, or global reach – but exposure is critical. Â This article is not a definitive guide but a starting point to show you how to get accounts setup and inexpensive methods to make social media marketing easy. Â Social Media planning is critical in today’s Internet environment.
Today’s Internet Marketing Challenges
I will discuss primarily global/national reach with some minor focus on local and regional exposure.
As recently as 7 years ago, it was possible to setup a website and get found. Â With the vastness of the Web and the explosion of social media, your prospective customers and clients have a harder time finding you. Â Google (the premier search provider) changes its search algorithms multiple times a year, so trying SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) results in significant costs and significant time to keep up with the changes or pay someone to do this for you.
Spending a few hours to setup social media accounts and use a few services will result in a significant increase in your presence.
Setting up Social Media accounts
You will find that setting up some social media accounts might require you to setup a personal page in order to setup a Business or Brand page.
- Google Business – since Google runs the major search engine, you should have a Google Business Account.  Setup yours at https://www.google.com/business/
- Facebook  – if you don’t have a FB page, setup a personal page.  Then setup a Facebook Business Page.  For example, you might have your personal page (John Smith) and then setup a business page – John Smith at Acme Realty, or Smith Enterprises.  Setup at https://www.facebook.com/business/learn/set-up-facebook-page
- Twitter – this social network is becoming key to exposure, and Google is now indexing Twitter results. Â If you already have an active Twitter account (handle) you might consider setting up a separate account for your business. Â Setup at: https://twitter.com
- Instagram – Instagram is useful for spotlighting your videos (Youtube) or images with links to content. Â You can setup a business account at: Â https://business.instagram.com/
- YouTube – being part of the Google empire means that if you link the correct keywords to your videos, you can be found easier. Â With good software to create, publish, and link your videos on YouTube your exposure has excellent potential. Â You should post videos on your YouTube channel weekly with instructional, informative information (why you need my service or product, how to do xyz, new properties or products, etc). Â See a good video on creating a YouTube channel at: Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5geys7wEUEU
- LinkedIn – a great way to be found as a professional, find informative articles, and find others in your field – or to simply find and reach out to those you want to contact. Â Signup at http://www.LinkedIn.com. Â You can also publish links to informative instructional articles and videos you create.
Other Social Media & Exposure Plans
- Research your Keywords. Â Keywords are the terms used by search services and social media to index you and your content. Â For a real estate agent or real estate investor, you might use: Â buying homes Anytown (with Anytown being your city), selling homes Anytown, waterfront homes Anytown, lakefront homes Anytown, Anytown townhomes, Anytown condos, Anytown builders rep
- Website.  Your website should be setup as a Blog so you can post article, links to your YouTube videos, and other informative instructional content.  I recommend that if you aren’t web savvy, that you go to NameCheap to search and buy your web domain (they can host your site as well).  You can then use Fiverr to outsource setting up your WordPress system on your web domain.  This person has some experience and great reviews and can setup your system with a great theme for $10 – https://www.fiverr.com/jameshale/install-or-create-a-wordpress-website?extras=9194132
Social Media Publishing Tools
- HootSuite – I use a system called HootSuite to run my social media marketing for my Real Estate Agent business. Â HootSuite can link your accounts together – Facebook, LinkedIn, LinkedIn groups, Twitter, Google Plus and Google Business, and Instagram. Â I have the Pro account because of its flexibility. Â You can signup for Hootsuite.
- FON Video Ranker – this is a new cloud software offering that allows you to create YouTube videos and then link them to multiple Web 2.0 blog sites. Â You can find out more – FON Video Ranker.
Once you get started with Social Media Marketing, you will find that there are multiple ways to increase your reach and have more customers find you. Â A real estate agent I know credits over $8 Million in annual sales to her Facebook marketing efforts!