Announcing Your Social Media Presence

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Now that your business is using social media, it’s important that you share your online presence with your customers and potential customers. Here are ways you can do that, both online and offline, to make sure that the people who want to find your business on social media know where to look.

Before You Start: You have a business account on one or more social media sites.
Learning level: 3 | Building Skills
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Your Business Social Media Passport

Now that your business is using social media, you need a strategy to share your social media accounts with the people who want to find your business online. It’s easy to create a social media passport, a list of your online accounts, and share this information with your customers.

Before you get started, you need to prepare you social media passport information.

You need an icon for each social media site. You can find free icon sets online, or you can ask your graphic designer to create a set that matches your visual branding.
Create a list of the exact web address (URL) for each account. Make sure you have the address of your page and not just the front door of the social media site.

Here are some suggestions for sharing your social media passport both online and offline.

Email. Update your email signature to include your social media passport with links to your accounts. Use a tiny icon here to save space, and include a link to your page on the social media site.
Business cards. Social media accounts are generally long and don’t fit well on business cards. You can easily add your Twitter handle. For the other sites, simply include the site icon. Your customers who use those sites will recognize the icons. You might consider placing this information to the back of your business card.
Marketing materials. Update your print marketing materials with the icons for your social media sites. You can also add a sentence like “Find us on…” with a list of your social media accounts.
Website. Work with your website designer to find a great location on your website to include your social media passport. Ideally, this information should be on every page and should be near the top so it’s easily found by site visitors. Use the social media icons, and provide a link to your exact account page for each icon.
Blog. Most blogs have a two-column (or more) layout. Add your social media passport to the sidebar on every page, and position it near the top. Use the social media icons, and provide a link to your exact account page for each icon.
Menus. Add your social media account icons to your menu. This is especially powerful when you add it to the printed menu that you hand to customers and your carryout or catering menu.
Receipts. Add your social media account names or icons to any type of receipt you hand to your customers when possible. This includes any forms that you give to customers when they drop off items, like a dry cleaning claim form.
Signage. Put a sign on your front door that lists your social media sites with their icons. Place a sign near your cash register for additional reinforcement. Consider adding social media information to a sign outside your business.
Google Maps Place Page. Use the flexibility of your Place Page to add your social media passport to your Google Maps listing.