It’s like Deja Vu.

I’ve had this same conversation with representatives from a Fortune 500 financial services company, with a B2B industrial lighting distributor and several consumer-facing companies like wineries, restaurants, real estate agents and retailers.

It goes like this.

Them: We have a blog. We don’t seem to get any traction. Should we continue writing?

Me: Do you know what your customers care about? Are you creating content that teaches them something, solves a problem, entertains them or provides information about tools or resources that they would care about? Are you creating better than average content? Or leaving it to the intern to create (with little guidance and training)?

I think you see where this is going. In order to create content that people care about and will share with their friends, colleagues or social media connections, you need to proactively produce a superior product.

While “viral” content is a great goal, let’s talk about what’s holding most business blogs back from even getting a few shares in social media for each blog post.

Here are 6 reasons your content won’t get shared (and it absolutely won’t go viral):

1) No Sharing Buttons (or they’re hidden)

In order to help your content spread, you have to reduce the friction of sharing. In other words, make it very easy to share via Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter, Pinterest and via email. And no, don’t hide it at the bottom as a tiny button that needs to be expanded to show the real sharing buttons. Put the sharing buttons front and center, so people know where they are and what to do with them.

2) You Have a Boring Headline

Headlines are the first things people see when the visit your website or blog. They’re also what people will see if your content is shared in social media. If you don’t intrigue them with your headline, then why should they bother reading on?

3) You’re Not Connected In Social Media and/or You Don’t Share it Yourself

If a tree falls in the forest but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Translated into blogging, this is, “If a post is written but there’s no one around to read or share it, was it really written at all?”.

If you don’t “pre-connect” with your audience (and some heavy sharers in your industry), then you haven’t done your homework in terms of blog promotion. And if you’re connected, you need to share your own content. If you don’t find it worth sharing, why would someone else?

4) Your Posts Are All About You

I have nothing against you, your company, your products, the benefits of your products, the different colors you offer, your financing plans, your client case studies, your demos or your company events. It’s just that it’s not that interesting for me as a reader. Think about what your prospective customers care about and provide some of that instead! See my blogging course to learn several ways that I create customer-focused content that hooks readers and improves “share-ability”.

5) You Don’t Have an Artisanal Attitude to Crafting Content

Blog posts that are produced as “check the box” activities will never be exceptional. If you treat more of your blog posts like an individual works of art versus creating just “content widgets” that roll out of a blog post production factory, you’ll get a hugely different reception to your posts.

In fact, I would argue that “artisanal posts” (exceptional, time-intensive and very valuable) get infinitely more sharing than factory posts (dull, rehashed truisms, not very valuable). In other words, an inspired piece of content can get hundreds or thousands of shares while an uninspired one can get zero.

6) You Don’t Post Often Enough To Become Good At It

Every content creator starts off producing average (or below average) content. Get over that fact.

You have to produce enough content, get enough feedback, see what people respond to and find your own voice…and that requires that you put in some time.

How about some examples?

Here are some examples of some of my posts that have hit home with my audience in terms of visits, shares and feedback:

• 10 Social Media Lessons Learned from Ford – Scott Monty New Media Expo Keynote #nmx
• Are Teenagers Abandoning Facebook?
• The Ultimate Pinterest Marketing Resource Guide (89 Helpful Resources)
• 11 Ways To Maximize Pinterest Pins of Your Blog Content
• SEO Tutorial: Getting into the Heads of your Ideal Clients
• 14 Ways to Build Strategic Relationships With the Who’s Who of Social Media (on Copyblogger)
• Charles Darwin’s 12 Rules of Blogging Survival (on Problogger)
• 9 Ways To Find Guest Blogging Opportunities (on Famous Bloggers)

So are you ready?

So are you ready to create great content that really hits home with your prospective customers?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

One of the things I tell potential clients is that being social (e.g. actively using social media) in industries that are typically viewed as less of a fit for social media can be a great way to stand out, to show thought leadership and to reach new audiences (or your existing audience in new ways).

For example, Indium corporation has been a great example of a company that embraces blogging and social media – and they’re in the solder paste business! An example of a company that I feel is doing a great job of social media and content in the B2B software space is SAP. You can see highlights of my perspective on them in this presentation on “Social Media and Intimacy” on slideshare. I’ve found that company leaders who think that none of their competitors are in social media have been very surprised when they (or we) actually investigated what others were doing.

Can we find other examples in “Non-Social Industries”?

To find out what people are doing to connect with their customers, partners and other industry stakeholders on social media in less social industries, I worked with a couple of my colleagues to pull together this infographic.

In the following infographic, you’ll see:

• Why you should be social, even if not everyone in your industry is on board
• Examples of companies innovating in social media
• Things to watch out for with social media in non-social industries

Examples that we used include companies in the following industries:

• Medical
• Police
• Automotive
• Veterinary
• Libraries

So what do you think of being social when others are not as eager to jump in?

Embed this infographic on your site:

<a href="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Social-Media-Unsocial-Industries-Right-Mix-Marketing.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Social-Media-Unsocial-Industries-Right-Mix-Marketing.jpg" alt="The Most Social Companies in the Least Social Industries [Infographic]" width="600" height="12555" /></a><br/><a href="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/">Social Media at Right Mix Marketing</a>
________________

Note: Additional credit to interns Sufian Malik (research) and Social Lantern (Matt Kallechy)

Restaurants are right at the nexus of several key marketing trends. They are all about being social (unless you like to dine alone), they’re local businesses (it’s hard to ship a hamburger), and their customers are passionate about food and love to talk about it. They love to take pictures of their meals and they love to post reviews online. Also, people quite often will find restaurants while on the go – so mobile becomes very, very important.

Now, understanding the context, what are the trends for restaurant marketing in 2013?

• 72% trust online reviews over other sources
• Restaurant loyalty programs can significantly boost profits
• As mobile usage grows, a mobile site becomes essential
• 72% of customers have used Facebook to make a retail or restaurant decision
• SEO and Content will be needed to help restaurants be found online

If you own a restaurant, contact us to learn about our Restaurant Social Media Programs.

Are Restaurants up to the challenge?

As you probably know, many restaurants are not handling many aspects of Social, Mobile, Loyalty, SEO or Reviews well. What are the most common gaps you see with the restaurants you frequent (and how they market or interact with you)?

Guest post by Linda Dessau (see also #1:”How Business Blogging Can Build Credibility Offline” and #3: Taking You Local Networking Contacts Online)

When I moved from Toronto to Barrie in 2010, I didn’t know a soul. Yet I never felt alone, because I’d gotten a head start on building a business community here. I used a Twitter directory to identify local business owners with related services, who were also active on Twitter (another thing we would have in common). I put them all into a private Twitter list and used Hootsuite to keep them front and center in my attention.

(Today I have two lists for my local connections, because each list has a limit of 500 contacts and I’ve outgrown the first list!)

Then I reached out and started conversations with those people. For some, that meant jumping into a conversation on Twitter, for others it meant sending a private email. Best of all, when I stepped foot into my first business networking events here in Barrie, I found people I recognized from my online travels. And that is still happening to this day.

Networking for introverts

Communicating online can feel safer, especially if you tend towards the introverted side of the continuum, like I do. Introverts also benefit from the asynchronous nature of blogging and social media, since we can take plenty of time to think and revise our words before we publish our thoughts. This might just make us the ideal social media mavens, suggests Nancy Ancowitz, author of Self-Promotion for Introverts®.

Social networking allows introverts to participate from our own quiet space, without being depleted by the energy of a room full of people. We can choose when and with whom we’ll communicate.

Giving up that control to attend face-to-face networking events can be challenging, but is also hugely valuable for deepening your business connections and developing new ones.

Breaking the ice

When you’ve been chatting regularly with someone online, you may end up seeing a lot of details about their life. This can quickly create a sense of familiarity and friendship, yet it can feel awkward trying to replicate that rapport when you meet in person.

Here are five tips that can bridge the gap between online and offline networking:

1. Do your homework. Poll your social networks before events to find out who’s going to be there. For introverts, especially, it’s comforting to know who you can expect to see at an event. This will also help you plan ahead for the people you’d especially like to know better. Prepare by reviewing their social media profiles and business website, and go over some of your online interactions to refresh your memory.
2. Make the first move. If you recognize someone but you’re not sure how you know them (those Twitter avatar photos are pretty small!), etiquette expert Deborah McGrath says it’s perfectly acceptable to start with something like, “Hello, I’m Deborah, forgive me, I know we’ve met, but I have forgotten your name.” She says that by taking the blame for our forgetfulness, it immediately changes the focus and balance of the greeting.
3. Have a virtual coffee. For people you’re particularly interested in networking with, schedule a meeting using video chat software. This literally brings another dimension into your interactions and it will feel more natural when you eventually meet in person.
4. Assume you’ll meet your readers someday. This creates a rapport that will infuse your offline interactions. Though we know it’s impossible for everyone in our networks to read every single thing we post online, we can still write with their needs in mind. In fact, I often picture my ideal reader sitting across the desk from me when I read my blog post out loud before publishing (an important step for catching typos and other errors). You can do the same with your social media posts, creating value and goodwill that people will remember when you meet in person.
5. Embrace your celebrity status. Accept that when you publish content online, you become a public figure. Whether it’s a blog post, a tweet, or even a checkmark endorsing someone else’s comment, you’re putting yourself out there. That means people may know you even if you don’t know them. It felt strange to be asked, “Aren’t you Linda Dessau?” while standing at the sink in a public bathroom, but it reinforced that my content was being read, shared, remembered and valued, and that is what content marketing is all about.

What have you noticed about making the transition from online networking to offline networking? Do you have any tips or stories to share?

Linda Dessau is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online. She is the founder of Content Mastery Guide, where she provides hands-free blogging services and stress-free blogging resources. See also “How Business Blogging Can Build Credibility Offline“.

Guest post by Michael Higashi

The catch phrase of 2013 seems to be “Big Data” – the concept of how massive amounts of strategic data collection (can you say “google”), analysis and targeting can generate huge ROI for businesses. I’ve written how I believe technology for marketers has finally caught up (technology-wise and cost-effectiveness) to where “lazy marketing” is no longer a valid excuse. Do you know which of your marketing channels are bringing in the most customers? In today’s multi-channel world, it can be tough to tell.

Generating engaging content marketing media is already tough enough – we need tools and processes to know what’s working and what’s not in order to maximize ROI. Savvy marketers know and use closed-loop analytics tools to measure, analyze, and act on the performance of all the elements of their marketing, from blogs to social media, landing pages to leads, and calls-to-action to email marketing and more. Take a look at the infographic/study below, conducted by the gurus at SEOmoz. The standout takeaway: “….lastly, it turns out that 60.2% of marketers are looking for analysis options, as well as other analytics options, in their social media management tools”. This comes as no surprise.

When savvy social media marketers are communicating their messages online, they want to know exactly how those efforts are benefiting them by analyzing whether each social strategy is connecting to their end goal: revenue….”

…and how do your social media channels stack up against your blogs, videos email touches and landing pages?

Check out the great posts about the importance of measuring your content marketing ROI performance:

Marcus Sheridan’s jaw-dropping case study: “My Blog Made Over 2 Million Dollars in Sales: How’s that for ROI?” – the title says it all.
“How to Get Your Boss to Care About Content Marketing“, by Adria Saracino
“Reporting Content Marketing ROI to the C-Level“, by Joe Pulizzi

A Closer Look at How Marketers Are Using Social Media

Michael Higashi is a content marketing expert at Electrify Media. Electrify your Business and Sales with Visual Inbound Marketing. Learn how you can improve your marketing results in Michael’s free ebook, Unlock the ROI of Your Marketing with Analytics.

Guest post by Jeff Machado

When people ask me the No. 1 change they should make to their website, I always the same thing: add a blog and update it often.

But, the reality is starting a blog for your local business comes with unique challenges that can prevent you from gaining the momentum you need for your blog take off.

When done right, though, your blog can help you build an audience in your community and generate qualified leads for your business.

Here are the traits you want to focus on in your local blog to help you get there.

1. Educational and Informative

Too much emphasis on your own products and services will prevent your local business blog from ever taking off. The goal of a local blog isn’t to tell everyone how great you are – it is to build an audience in your community.

You can still sell from your blog, weaving your products and services into the content strategically. But you have to publish posts that solve problems, reveal interesting facts or serve as a resource before selling anything would be effective.

Local Business Blog in Action:

Here in Tallahassee, Manausa Real Estate has built a local blog that has attracted a dedicated following and thousands of subscribers, a major achievement for a local business blog.

How did they do it?

1. The owner, Joe Manausa, MBA, addresses specific questions related to Tallahassee real estate.

2. He provides statistics and charts on home values in different neighborhoods around town.

3. He publishes tutorial posts that walk potential buyers and sellers through the process of choosing and working with an agent.

4. Joe publishes the posts in his own name which is standard in real estate, but important for all industries. By not hiding behind a company name, he becomes a credible and recognizable source. Local business thrives on the know, like and trust factor.

2. People and Community Focused

Every person in your local area represents a story waiting to be told. And we all love a great story.

Use your blog to feature someone in your community through case studies and interviews.

Focusing on members of your community does more than just add content to your blog. It gives you an opportunity to reach out to people you may not have contacted before. The relationships you build with these individuals will expand your network and connect you with influencers in your community.

Action Step:

Put it on your schedule to feature one person per month on your blog that your audience would want to hear from. You can come up with standard interview questions to send to each person you’re going to profile to help you save time.

3. Locally Focused Calls to Action

Every blog post should end with a call to action. If you don’t tell your blog readers the next step, they will leave your post and may never return to read your blog again.

Have a call to action in mind for each post, whether it is to subscribe to your blog, attend a workshop at your business, or to get a quote. Lead your readers to where you want them to go.

Want More Local Leads?

If you want more local leads, place a call to action at the end of your blog posts to download a free report that is customized to your area. While your readers may be able to find general information online about topics related to your business, local information is more difficult to come by.

Ask your readers to provide their email address before downloading the report. That way, each person who downloads it is now a lead that you can follow up with by sending more helpful information and offers to work with you.

4.  Social Integration

Every post you add to your blog adds a new thread of conversation with your audience. Easy-to-use social sharing buttons on your blog will help multiply the reach of that conversation.

When your readers like, +1 or retweet your posts, you are getting exposed to a new audience. While the numbers may not be as high as a general/non-local blog, the social sharing that does happen is much more likely to reach people who live in your area.

Numbers are good, yes. But targeted local leads are even better.

Social Sharing Made Easy

My favorite WordPress plugin for social sharing is Digg Digg. With an attractive floating bar and ease of use, it’s one of those plugins that I think every blog should have.

Enable the option to have your Twitter username automatically included in the tweets (via @rtmixmktg for example) when users press the Twitter or Buffer buttons to help you grow your following and be alerted when your content is shared.

5. Consistently Updated

This is advice that most bloggers dread – but only because they know the importance of it, yet how difficult it is to put into action.

No one is going to go back to a website with a blog that was updated two times three years ago. Simply having a blog on your site isn’t enough to reap the benefits of increased reach in your community and a loyal following.

Blogging is a long-term strategy, not a short term cure-it-all to marketing your local business.

Blogging Consistency Tip

Creating a calendar of post topics and formats will help you stay on track.

Most bloggers agree that coming up with ideas is the greatest challenge they face. But if you have a specific post topic you talk about on Mondays and then you post an interview on Thursdays, it will be much easier for you to be consistent.

I love seeing local businesses get these traits right on their blog. And I know they love the results of more leads and customers.

Now that you know the traits of a successful local business blog, what action steps are you going to take next? Let me know in the comments.

Jeff Machado is a content marketing strategist for Fiore Communications, a Tallahassee marketing firm that helps businesses attract new customers, engage their audiences and build relationships. Download their latest report, “What’s the Big Idea? An Essential Guide for Attracting Customers Online,” to find out how to grow your business with the power of a Big Idea and online marketing techniques.

Guest post by Cheryl Pickett

Has anyone ever said to you, “Hey, you should write a book”? Or how about, “I’d read a book about that”. Maybe if no one has said it, maybe you’ve thought, “I could totally write a better book than he/she did”.

If you’ve heard or thought any of those things, I have a question for you. If you should or could write a book but haven’t – why not?  If your answer is, “I’m too busy”, “I don’t know how”, or “It’s on my bucket list”, you’re not alone. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a good answer. In fact, I’d be willing to be that for many of you, it isn’t. Writing a book should not be on a bucket list; it should be on your To Do List. Here are just a few reasons why.

There Is More Support Than Ever

If one of the reasons you haven’t written a book is you don’t know how to start or what to do you’re in luck, because that’s actually one of the easiest issues to overcome. There are more resources available now than most people will probably ever need. From writing to publishing to promoting, if you want to get it done, you can find the help you need I guarantee it.

Being an Author Creates Credibility and Trust

If you have a business (or you would like to) based on expertise like coaching, consulting, teaching or training, having a book can is still an excellent marketing tool. Even though the death of books is proclaimed every other day it seems, there are still plenty of people who view authors with respect and admiration. A book can be a great point of introduction to your work and a nice foot in the door for publicity opportunities too.

You Do Not Have to Write the Be All End All Book on Your Topic

Some people put writing a book on their bucket list because they believe it is a huge, overwhelming project and who has time for that? The good news here is your book does not have to be the definitive guide or hundreds of pages long. It can be if you wish, but it really isn’t necessary. Readers now have shorter attention spans and many are used to reading online, so shorter books are actually becoming more popular.

Don’t make the writing part harder than it needs to be. It is perfectly fine to write a book of 150 pages, or even 90 or 100. If  you write just a little each day or each week, you will likely finish faster than you ever thought you could.

The Biggest Reason: If Your Book Will Help or Inspire Someone, You Need to Write It

Many years ago, writing and publishing a book was only for an elite, educated or chosen few, but that is far from the case today. As we discussed earlier, there’s more support and more options available than at any time in the history of publishing. If you want to get a book out there, there it can be done, plain and simple.

Lastly, but most importantly,  if your book  will help, teach, encourage or inspire someone else, not only can you get it out there, many would say, you must. There are people who are waiting for your message or your guidance. Even if others have written on the topic, your insight might be the only one that resonates with a certain person or group. If you don’t write your book, who will reach those people, and if you don’t write, what will they miss or live without knowing?

Now back to where we started. Is writing a book on your bucket list?

Cheryl Pickett is an independently published author of two books, and she’s working on the next two. She started www.thenonfictionzone.com to help others do the same. When she’s not doing that, she likes watching marching band competitions and has a long list of zoos and aquariums she wants to visit.

Guest post by Linda Dessau (see also #2:”Taking Your Online Relationships Offline” and #3: Taking You Local Networking Contacts Online)

When I speak to business owners about blogging, sometimes I hear, “Does anyone even read these things?” or even, “Why bother?”

There are plenty of online benefits to posting high-quality content on your business blog regularly, and one of the most important is this:

Information seekers and search engines will both recognize you and your website as authorities on the topic you’re blogging about. This can help attract new potential customers and increase their trust to purchase your product or service, even though you haven’t met in person.

Networking, if done well, can also help you establish trusting relationships with potential customers. That is, as long as you attend networking events regularly, and cultivate long-term relationships with your fellow professionals.

It’s your job to train your network to recognize your ideal customers and the unique problems that you solve in your business. That way, when members of your network come across these people, they can introduce you. This creates an optimal situation where you’re solving, not selling.

Here are five ways that blending business blogging with in-person networking will help you attract new clients, grow your network, and make a meaningful contribution to those you meet.

1)    Match your message – One of the first things many people will do with that stack of business cards they collected at a networking event is visit people’s websites. If they find a current and highly informative collection of articles (otherwise known as a blog) about the same topics you referred to at the meeting, that validates the positive impression you made in person.

2)    Educate – Your network can only learn so much from a 60-second introduction, especially in the midst of dozens of other introductions that can all start to blend together after awhile. On your blog, include case stories and samples that will clearly show your network what you do and who you do it for.

3)    Equip – By publishing blog posts on a variety of topics that correspond to the specific customers, products, services or situations that you deal with in your business, your networking colleagues can easily find and share this specific information when they meet an ideal customer for you.

4)    Spotlight – Members of your network may also post your content on social media to share with their entire network. By blogging consistently and linking to your posts on social media, you make it easy for your network to help you. You also make them look better by giving them great content to share. You can return the favor with a simple public “thank you” that your followers will see, or by promoting some of the other person’s content or announcements.

5)    Follow up – If you speak to someone at a networking event who might also be a potential customer, blogging gives you a non-threatening and effective way to continue the conversation. Simply send them the link to one or two of your blog posts, that either describes how you solved a similar problem for another client (a case study), or provides some self-help tips they can apply immediately to get some initial relief.

Hint: Be sure to send the person directly to the permanent link (“permalink”) of the blog post. You can usually find the permanent link of a blog post by clicking on the title of the post so it opens up in a new page, and then copying the URL from your web browser’s address bar.

Blogging and social media don’t replace in-person networking, but using them effectively can help you enhance your relationships – both online and offline.

Linda Dessau is the author of Write Your Way to More Clients Online. She is the founder of Content Mastery Guide, where she provides hands-free blogging services and stress-free blogging resources.

We produced this infographic exploring the recent trends for teenagers related to Facebook and Social Media. We all hear anecdotally about the movement of teens to other (often mobile-centric) Social Media platforms.

So what did we discover?

• For Facebook North American active users numbers are declining
• The average age of Facebook users has risen from 38 to 41 years old
• The number of Moms getting on Facebook is rising sharply
• Teens are increasingly going mobile and Facebook is not their favorite app
• There are a lot of hot, new apps like Kik Messenger, WhatsApp and SnapChat that are grabbing the attention of teenagers

It’s all displayed below for you in this “hot of the press” infographic. Enjoy and feel free to share or embed using the code below the infographic!

Embed this infographic on your site:

<a href="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Teens-Facebook-Social-Media.jpeg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Teens-Facebook-Social-Media.jpeg" alt="Are Teenagers Abandoning Facebook? #Infographic" title="Are Teenagers Abandoning Facebook? #Infographic" width="585" height="1742" /></a><br/><a href="http://www.rightmixmarketing.com/">Social Media Intelligence via Right Mix Marketing</a>

So what’s your take?

Will teenagers increasingly abandon Facebook and move to other Social Media sites? Will Facebook’s focus on mobile stop the exodus?

________________
Note: Additional credit to Katherine Lajkosz and Mathew Kallechy at Social Lantern

A recent study conducted by the online marketing firm Vertical Response and reported on in Forbes concludes that small businesses are spending more time on social media but struggling with the added workload it represents. Perhaps as a consequence, most are doing social media marketing in a vacuum because they’re not tracking results, which means they have no way of quantifying if their time and effort are paying off.

“Our survey confirms that small businesses are understanding the value of social media,” says Vertical Response CEO and founder Janine Popick. “They’re spending more time doing it, and investing more money into it at a faster rate. But the extra work will likely lead to time management issues, especially for the small business owner who’s handling social media on top of all the other responsibilities of running a company. This implies that small businesses are in need of tactics and tools now to help them save time.”

The study, conducted among almost 500 Vertical Response customers, focused on a variety of social media activities ranging from finding and sharing content to blogging. The firm was interested in knowing which platforms small businesses are most active on, their marketing and social media budgets, and how much they’re spending on tools to manage and analyze social media efforts. Findings include:

Two-thirds of small businesses are spending more time on social media today than they did a year ago.

• Forty-three percent of those surveyed spend over six hours per week on social media, 25 percent spend six to ten hours per week and 18 percent spend more than 11 hours per week.
• Facebook is still the king of social media for small businesses, with 90 percent reporting that they post there. Nearly 70 percent tweet on Twitter, 50 percent are connected on LinkedIn, 32 percent show up on Google Plus and 29 percent pin on Pinterest.
• One-third of the CEOs, owners and proprietors who responded said they want to spend less time on social media.
• More than half (55 percent) of small businesses operate a blog. Among those that do, 45 percent spend one to three hours to create a post, while 16 percent require more than three hours.
• Respondents ranked the following from most to least time consuming: finding and posting content, learning and education, analyzing efforts, scoping out the competition and responding to questions.
• Some small businesses rely on tools to publish and analyze their social media. Thirty-six percent pay for publishing and analytic tools; 58 percent spend $26 or more per month on it.
• Social media budgets are on the rise, with four times as many small businesses having increased their budgets compared to those that have decreased their budgets. By comparison, only twice as many businesses have increased their overall marketing budgets.

Food for thought: Writing for Forbes, Carol Tice admitted that she was surprised that fully half of the business owners said they never use LinkedIn.

“My experience as a solo owner of my own freelance writing and coaching business is that LinkedIn is the online phone book for hiring solopreneurs. Heavyweight companies do searches on there every day, looking for providers to hire,” she says, adding that it “seems foolish not to have a presence on LinkedIn, especially when the platform demands so much less of you than Facebook or Twitter. A weekly status update and maybe a few questions answered or comments made in groups, and you’re good.

So, how does my company stay afloat, you ask? Good question.

To increase effectiveness and to save you time, follow this four step process to create your social media strategy.

1. Establish Goals for Your Social Media Activities: These should tie to your overall business priorities.
2. Deploy Resources Based on the Goals: You can’t starve your social media program or it will whither.
3. Integrate Your Social Media With Other Activities: Don’t do social media in isolation from your other marketing activites.
4. Assess Your Results: You need to measure and adjust.

In order to use social media to support your business goals and to be efficient in the management of it, you need to have a social media strategy. Not a set of disconnected activities.

Beth Longware Duff is a professional editor and award-winning writer whose work on a wide variety of topics has been published in print and electronic media. She currently writes on a wide range of topics dealing with electronic payment processing and credit card processing for Merchant Express.