Social Media 101

How Facebook builds your brand, Twitter pays it forward, and LinkedIn maintains credibility.

Facebook may have started in a college dorm room, but those getting the most out of Facebook now are businesses targeting common interests among users of all ages. The nice thing about Facebook is that it merges business with pleasure where appropriate.

Businesses can best utilize Facebook by creating a fanpage for clients, prospects, colleagues, and friends alike to keep up to date with your business. You can promote your business by linking your blogs to your Facebook page while your community benefits by the ability to post questions, and comments.

You can even request referrals for services you need. In fact, last week we got a great lead from a client who saw a friends' status update that read "I need a Drupal web developer TODAY. Does anyone know of one?" Our client kindly passed her recommendation along and within minutes—literally—Jason received a phone call and earned a day's worth of work on www.prosperevent.com for its huge launch the next day. Thank you, Facebook!

Recently companies have caught on to creating pages that speak directly to something they promote that just so happens to be the same thing we all want: for example, "happiness." Be careful to remember that when creating a "positive thinking" fan page, this page truly is about "positive thinking" not promoting your business. If it just so happens someone finds your business info or a link to your site in the info section, bonus. Otherwise, you've created a safe community for people to express and experience positive interaction.

Twitter left most of us scratching our heads in the beginning, but has since taken off as a powerhouse to instantly and succinctly share information, tips, news, and strategies instantaneously. We are now able to receive information faster via social media than news media itself. The benefit in using Twitter is you are able to "follow'; that is, to receive updates and info from only the people in whom you are interested. As a business you might offer a quiz question on Mondays to get your followers engaged. But the main point of Twitter is to share common interests, and it was built with the premise of paying it forward. The point isn't to pimp out your business, but rather to keep a full stream of conversation going about all things related to your expertise.

LinkedIn provides a platform to link your Twitter status updates as well as blog posts directly to your page automatically. LinkedIn is clearly meant for business and serves as a living breathing resume. While the six degrees of social separation is found on Facebook through friend suggestions, six degrees of business separation are found on LinkedIn through the "connections" block. It offers users the ability to connect with clients and co-workers and promotes business networking through user-created groups specific to certain career fields, while engaging in question and answer opportunities with fellow experts globally.

If you expect to do big business, expect that folks will be checking your LinkedIn recommendations and virtual resume. Speaking of which, take time to recommend your connections. They will thank you.

Truth is, social media isn't meant to make you fast money. But it is meant to grow relationships as in the case with our client of 8 months who read a Facebook post and after experiencing our services paid it forward.

To see our web development services and portfolio, visit peacefulmedia.com