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Social Media 101 for businesses and blogs

social media 101 for blogs and businesses



To give you some background.  I’ve been in Marketing and Advertising since 10th grade.  I wrote a business plan for a charity my sophomore year in high school which generated new revenue and volunteers and ever since then I was hooked.  It’s something I’m so extremely passionate about and have stuck with.  
I graduated college with my degree in Business with a minor in Marketing and Advertising.  I’ve even helped a few friends and family (cough cough Mom) launch their own profitable businesses.  For fun I sit around with my best friends trying to think of the next best app and ways to make money doing something you love.  Kind of like those projects in middle school where you had to invent something and write a paper about it.  I wish I would have went with my magnet bed maker upper idea because that still hasn’t been invented.  Anyways, I’m off track.  #ADD 
 


After graduating I’ve been working in the Marketing and Advertising field for 8 years!  Wow, I’m old – ick.  I’ve done SEM (search engine marking) for small businesses utilizing unique yet high traffic adwords, SEO (search engine optimization), built websites, sold and created print + display ads / ad campaigns and social media initiatives for companies from the local contractor or dentist to Ford and AT&T.

I’m still not an expert in the field and learn something new everyday but blogging is about writing what you know.  And this is what I know…




So onto social media.  The first question people ask is do I have to have a _____ (insert social media name) account.  Or they say, I have a _____ (insert social media name) account but I never use it. Well folks, you’re doing it wrong.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a strong social media presence.  This will generate exponentially more traffic to your blog / website and make it 1000 x easier for your customers/fans/followers to find you.  Its also helps to have the visual representation of your blog / business to gain new followers / customers and generate new revenue.  It’s like not having a website these days and that’s just unacceptable.

 

The other question I always get asked is if your social media handles need to match.  I wanted to answer that question for y’all here and explain why.  



If you can’t guess right now.  The answer is YES!  Y – E – S – YES!  Sorry that was so dramatic.  They absolutely need to match and be the same across the board.  It’s so important to make it easy for your customers, fans, followers and friends to find and connect with you.  If your Instagram page is “AdyW123” and your Facebook Fan Page is “AdysBlog” and your Twitter handle is “aaxxyy319” but your blog name is actually “VerbalGoldBlog” that just won’t work.  See how confusing that is already?  There is no continuity.  No branding.  Remember you are your brand and everything needs to match.  Have I said that enough?


Another key point is that your social media handles on all platforms must be the same name as your business name.  It drives me crazy when the business is called “The Ashlynn Boutique” but the social media names are “ashlynnnb” or even “AshBoutique”.  Like what? How would I ever find you? That’s just crazy town.  #makethemmatch



The last question I get asked is if you should have a business/blog Instagram or can you get away with just having a personal Instagram.  That topic needs a separate posts so read more on that here!
I hope this helped.  Let me know if you have any other questions below and I’m happy to answer!