10 Tips for Small Businesses in 2011 and Beyond (Part 1)

With the global economy as it is, new methods of social marketing are becoming well known, with many new businesses and marketing companies embracing it as a way to spread the word in a more reliable, consistent, and cost-effective way.

While older values such as trust are just as important as always, newer trends in digital marketing are appearing, allowing small businesses more opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

1. Reliable brand advocates

Quality, not quantity, is key. Having 150 reliable twitter followers is far better than 1000 that are simply making up numbers. This is not to say that having many is a bad thing, (it does mean your name is spreading) but do not allow yourself to believe that all of them will help pass on your message or be useful for lead generation. Instead, focus on interaction with a core group who are active, reliable and relevant to your business.

2. Excel In One Area

Digital marketing is becoming the norm, and everyone with access to the web can promote their content, sharing masses of information. Do it, but ensure that your content maintains focus. Show yourself as the definitive source of info on a specific topic, even if another company has a little of the info amongst a mass of generalised content.

3. Quality Content

Ensure that you create useful content that will propel you above others similar to yourself. The Internet is vast, and amassing of information is rapidly become easy. However, this can overload visitors. Ensure that your content is useful enough to allow you to stand out, rather than page upon page of mediocre information. Become a beacon of information amongst the storm.

4. Budget For Social Marketing

Switch your advertising focus to Social media marketing, and take it seriously. It is a useful tool, and rapidly becoming the definitive method for online lead management. Treat it as such, and give it respect. The costs are more likely to be returned, and for a far smaller amount of effort and funding, can provide far greater dividends than outbound marketing.

5. Track Your Reputation – In Real Time!

With outbound marketing, reputations of companies were rather hidden until such times as a survey or poll were held, limiting their business strategy and planning efforts to certain chances to change. With social media, resources are easily available to actively monitor your reputation. What are people saying about you right now? How does this impact upon you? How many people are reposting your link? Has anyone had a problem that you could get on with rectifying right now?