The power of social networks is that your clients are already there. A frequently updated Twitter account or Facebook page is a way to engage with them where they already hang out. This infographic visualizes the reasons why social media should be a critical component in every business’ strategy . ( Infographic provided by @visually - More at www.visual.ly )

Social Media is a big conversation piece at the moment, particularly within smaller businesses who believe they should get involved because they think it will help their organisation grow.
Before you go headlong into starting your new inbound marketing campaign you must answer these 4 big questions.

1. What are you goals?
2. Who will continue the social media effort after the initial launch?
3. How will you measure success?
4. Are there other benefits to using social media?

The three key business motivations for using social media are:
Financial - Customer Support - Brand Building
Let's take a closer look at each motivation and see how it applies to your business.

1. Financial
This is very likely the most important objective of a social media campaign. Here are a few of the possible financial goals of the social media plan: Revenue – Leads - Building Email List – Referrals – Meetings

If you can track your social media campaign down to the lead form, you are golden. But when the traffic is being driven from your Facebook page it’s a little bit harder to point exactly to the ROI from your Facebook LIKES or “activity.” And if your sales cycle is a bit longer than your normal Google Analytics report, it might be harder to identify the customers who found you and purchased your goods or services because of one of your social media efforts.

2. Customer Support
By using Twitter and Facebook for customer communications many companies have made a healthy case for Social Media as part of your customer outreach program.

The the ROI formula is: ROI= (Gains-Costs)/Costs 
Why not do the maths for your situation?

3. Branding
The big companies are not trying to directly sell you something with their Social Media marketing campaigns, but they want you to think of them when you need something. So they are building brand awareness in your mind. If you do buy something from one of the big name players how are they going to measure their ROI?

By setting clear objectives and putting clear analytics and reporting together, a good strategist can set up your Social Media campaign for success. Social should be a part of every business objective, and I can show you how to achieve a solid ROI on your marketing efforts by including Social Media. 

Get a FREE 60 minute consultation with me using my contact form

LinkedIn for Start-ups and Small Businesses
A common question asked by start ups and small business owners these days is “which social network is the best?”
The answer is simple. The social channel that suits your business and meets your marketing goals is the best. But the sad fact is many small businesses have not looked beyond Facebook and Twitter. They have not tapped into the power of LinkedIn to increase business revenue and connect with like minded people. Many still assume, or rather presume, that LinkedIn is a repository of online CV’s.

 LinkedIn is a professional social networking site where you can optimize your brand, network with people who share your business interest, advertise, form groups and also enter into discussions and share your opinions and suggestions with other entrepreneurs.

What is LinkedIn and why you should be there?
Simply put, LinkedIn is a social networking channel for professionals of various professions, without the distractions of games and other applications which are commonly found in other social networks. It is the largest professional online network with presence in more than 200 countries.
You could rightly say that your LinkedIn profile is your online business card because it informs your clients and potential customers about the nature of your business and why they should connect with you. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile yet, create one today.

Here are a few reasons why all small business owners should have a member profile and company page on LinkedIn.

Increasing your Internet presence
If you have a profile on LinkedIn and Google your name, your profile will be listed on the first page of Google. This shows that LinkedIn has some sort of search engine optimization arranged with Google.

Does a wonder to your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Efforts
LinkedIn has an option to display your websites and blog. Instead of giving boring URLs, give catchy keyword phrases which will describe your company. When using specific keyword phrases, your profile will rank above all others they search for your specific keyword.

Networking
LinkedIn helps with networking. When you share your expertise and blog content with members of your group, they will knowingly or unknowingly share through word-of-mouth publicity to their friends and peers about your business. Sharing content and knowledge that you post online is made easier when you have a profile on LinkedIn.

Platform for showcasing your expertise
On LinkedIn, you can form groups and invite your colleagues and also like minded people. Similarly you can also join various groups that suit your business. Here, you can post questions and at the same time answer the queries posted by various members of the group. This way you can demonstrate your expertise in your specific field.

Ads Campaign in LinkedIn
Did you know that you can create direct Ads Campaign on LinkedIn? When you create ad campaigns on LinkedIn, you are targeting specific groups of professionals who have a need for your type of business.

Meet your clients/potential customers through events
LinkedIn has an interesting feature called ‘Events.’ Here you can create an event and invite your vendors, clients and potential customers. Even if you are not hosting an event but are planning to attend a business event organized by someone else you, can post it on LinkedIn. This is an opportunity to meet prospective clients and also a great way to promote your business.

Difference between Member Profile and a Company Page
A member profile is the profile of any individual while a company page displays the company’s profile. LinkedIn encourages you to have both a member and company profile. The reason being that member profiles are all about personal branding, while a Company Page will showcase your products or services i.e. your business brand. A member profile and Company Page should be consistent and blend with one another. This will give a complete picture about you and your business to prospective client.

How Small Business Should Use LinkedIn to their Advantage
Small Businesses must embrace social media to grow their business. It goes without saying that LinkedIn is a great channel for staying connected with people who you already know. However, it is also a great resource to make new connections and also find new customers. LinkedIn has many paid and unpaid services that small business owners should use to their advantage. Some of the services offered by LinkedIn include Company pages, in Mails, LinkedIn Ads and so on. Remember, if you are opting for free services, then you can only see the second degree connections. That is people who know people you know. However, if you are willing to pay a nominal monthly fee that starts at around £15, you can go through the profile of members beyond your second degree network. If you are a premium member then you can use in Mail to contact any member of LinkedIn. Here are a few to tips to use LinkedIn to turn your business around.

Online recommendations and word help to get new clients/customers
You can ask your customers to write recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. This is more than enough to send word across to your network about your credibility.

Be active in LinkedIn groups
To keep your business alive among your groups, you should participate in group discussions. You can post questions and also answer ones posted by other members. This will help showcase your knowledge in that particular domain.

Guy Outram

Content collated & provided by @iftweeter 
Whether you're planning your tactical social media campaign or reengineering your business for the social consumer, social media research is invaluable in setting benchmarks. They help you manage expectations, isolate priorities and best of all, define KPIs that set the evaluation bar.

But there is a dearth of UK and European focused research resources. Apart from econsultancy's marvellous internet stats compendium, it can be quite difficult to find individual studies without scouring Google for days!

So to make it easy, below are 14 highlights of the latest social media research, with links to original studies. Better still, they are in 140 characters or less, and very tweetable, if you fancy sharing a few insights.

1. During 2011 there were 228 billion UK Internet visits to websites and 28 billion hours spent online
Source: Experian Hitwise Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/uMRrri
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2. 87% of UK businesses will invest more in social media in 2012
Source: Royal Bank Of Scotland (RBS), Dec 2011. Reported in The Scotsmanhttp://bit.ly/th7heE
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3. Almost 2/3 (64%) of companies say they are now beyond the experimental phase compared to 54% a year ago
Source: econsultancy Nov 2011 http://bit.ly/to9Je7
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4. Only 48% of UK companies use social media, compared to 72% in the US and 83% in China
Source: KPMG, May 2011 http://bit.ly/sD194p
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5. Only 6% of business owners are monitoring social media to better understand their customers
Source: Sage UK Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/w0hXfS
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6. 60% of organisations have not yet implemented internal social media training and governance models
Source: econsultancy Nov 2011 http://bit.ly/to9Je7
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7. 25% of marketers think social signals ‘very important’ for search rankings, 57% think it will be important in 3 years
Source: Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/umrYAO
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8. 43% of UK women agreed they often find out about breaking stories via social networks; compared to 27% of men
Source: Ofcom Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/sIjKCm
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And on the media front….

9. MySpace slips out of top 10 of leading social networks in UK
Source: Metro http://bit.ly/rGT5Pa
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10. 60% of UK online population now use Facebook more than once a day
Source: YouGov Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/uAhCm3
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11. 71% with a social networking profile visit a networking sites at least once a day; 20% visit 5 times a day or more
Source: Ofcom Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/sIjKCm
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12. The Daily Mail and the Guardian websites are the most popular newspaper websites in Europe
Source: Ofcom Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/sIjKCm
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13. 2.6m people joined the top 20 Facebook retail pages in the last 6 months
Source: eDigitalResearch Dec 2011 http://bit.ly/uLhLwH
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And just because…

14. 47% of teenage smartphone users admitted using or answering their handset in the bathroom or toilet
Source: Ofcom Dec 2010 http://bit.ly/sbkdwd 
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Thanks to @iftweeter for doing the leg work

Guy Outram