24 Arbor Age / April 2014 www.arborage.com
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
B y B r a d S m i t h
Many of you already use social media in your personal lives, but
developing a social media marketing strategy for your business goes
far beyond logging in and clicking "share." Use this article as the key
to jumpstart your company's social media marketing strategy.
Getting started
If you're just starting with social media, your goal should be to
create a channel where your customers can connect with your com-
pany and learn more about your services. It is important to develop
an executable strategy for social media success for every social chan-
nel you launch — many eager social media newbies launch fi ve
social channels at once, just to let them die because they don't have
the time, know-how or funds to maintain each channel.
To get the most out of your social media strategy, introduce new
channels one at a time. Once you are comfortable with posting to
a channel, consider adding a new channel, if, and only if, the exist-
ing channels will not be neglected as soon as the new network is
established.
After creating your social channel(s), it's important to make it
easy for your existing customers and Google Plus (G+) to fi nd your
social channels. When people come from your website to your social
channel and vice versa, G+ takes note — making your products
and services discoverable by millions of people. You can also make it
easier for site visitors to fi nd you socially by adding social icons to
the top of your website's pages.
So many outlets, which one to choose?
Each of the following networks has its own social niche. The fol-
Which Social Media Which Social Media
Outlets are Right for Outlets are Right for
Your Business? Your Business?
