Social media is more than just a trendy thing for businesses. Done well, social media can help you grow your business by reaching potential customers and turning customers in to fans. If you are ready to jump into social media, here are some guidelines to help you make smart choices from the start.

• Before You Start: You have a business and you are ready to start using social media.
• Learning level: 1 | Getting Started
• Article Last Updated: Sunday, December 4, 2011

Where To Start With Social Media

Social media is everywhere. You can’t read anything about business these days without hearing more about social media issues and tools. It’s like the whole world is social media crazy. But how do you know if social media is right for your business? And if you haven’t yet started, how can you figure out where to begin without wasting a lot of time on trial and error?

Put On Your Conversation Hat

Social media gives businesses a new way to communicate with customers, potential customers, and the general public. If you think about social media as a new way to market your business, you are missing the boat and your social media efforts may be disappointing. You can talk about your business on social media, but if that is all you talk about, people will quickly tune out.

You need to find topics of conversation that people want to hear. You need to add value to the conversation if you want people to talk with you. The good news is that you already know lots of things to talk about just by running your business. So start by making a list of these topics, because no matter what tool you use, you need to know what you are going to talk about.

Go Where Your Customers Are

There are several factors to consider when you choose your social media tools, but the most important one is this: Go where your customers already hang out! It doesn’t matter which social media sites you like. Your customers (and potential customers) aren’t going to switch tools just because you want them to switch.

Finding your customers can be a little daunting. But you don’t have to hire a psychic. You can ask your customers where they are online! Ask them in a blog post. Run a survey in your next email newsletter or ask people at your checkout. If you are not already talking with your customers, this is the perfect way to kickstart your conversations.

Pick A Tool And Start Talking

The big four of social media tools are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. For most businesses, starting out on one of these tools is generally a safe decision. However, picking the best one for your business can make all the difference. Here are a few questions to help you decide which way to go.

• Does your business routinely make videos of your products and services? If you already have video, perhaps you can start out on YouTube to share your videos with a larger audience.
• Are you primarily B2B? Are your customer’s employees on LinkedIn? If so, you might benefit from creating your business profile on LinkedIn to make it easier for people to refer you to their friends and the people who can purchase your products and services.
• Do you have an active blog? Twitter is a great tool for driving traffic to blog posts. Adding a Twitter share widget to your blog also makes it easy for your blog visitors to share your posts with the people they know online.
• Do you need local customers? Twitter allows you to add people from your neighborhood to your online community, and allows you to reach out to strangers. It’s a powerful tool for local businesses and service area businesses.
• Are you comfortable using Facebook for keeping in touch with your friends? Facebook Pages offer fewer services than personal profiles, but they are designed to help your business connect with existing and potential customers.

Pick your tool, complete your profile, and start talking. The best way to learn social media is to use it. See what works. Check out what other businesses are doing, and borrow their best ideas, too. It’s really that simple. So what are you waiting for?

Your turn: How did you get started on social media? What was your first tool? What advice do you have for businesses who are just starting their social media journey? Share your experience here.

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