All of your Social Media accounts created – FANTASTIC! Now you can just sit back and let your fan base grow without any further intervention!

Not quite!

Ok…to a certain extent your audience may grow organically just by creating Social Media accounts i.e. by completing your profiles, posting statuses, tweets, blogs etc but there is a lot more that you can do to increase your online presence and start building relationships which could lead to business opportunities.

It’s all about making people aware – if people aren’t informed then they probably won’t have the time to ‘find’ you online and become part of your online community.

Don’t forget your offline channels. As part of your regular marketing mix you should build in your Social Media channels such as Facebook or Twitter name, into you brand touch points. So what do we mean? Well let’s start with your business cards, just think how many of these you give out and if a prospective client has one, they may want to follow you and find out what people are saying about you online. What about your next leaflet or postcard campaign? Visually you could also include the logos as well as actual account names.

Your printed business stationery along with your other forms of contact such as email signatures including your iPhone and iPad, website, online directories, networking groups such as Business Networking International, BNI are all potential touch points to your brand and lead generation tools. So next time you’re getting your business cards, flyers etc reprinted then be sure to factor social media in.

As an additional optional, you will probably have seen QR codes appearing on adverts and leaflets.These are basically a bar code that people can scan which will divert them to a dedicated online page which may be your Facebook, Twitter, Blog or YouTube page or a specific page on your website. If you feel your audience would be receptive to it then put one on.

Other opportunities you could leverage are shop signs, restaurant menu’s, staff clothing, vehicles….really, whatever your product or service, there is always a way of increasing online awareness. The opportunities are endless!

DON’T WASTE THESE OPPORTUNITIES TO PROMOTE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE AND AIM TO BECOME THE GO TO PERSON FOR KNOWLEDGE AND ADVICE IN YOUR GIVEN INDUSTRY.

Do you have any other tips and suggestions that have worked for your business? Please do share them.