A T Social Marketing and Consulting

This last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing much of my extended family. My Grandfather, who owns his own upholstery shop and never went to a single "business" class, and I were speaking about what it is I do. When I mentioned how much Social Media is like advertising, he gave me a quote that I loved. "Being in business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else can see it."  While it is a funny quote, there is a lot of truth to it. Without promoting your organization no one will know that you are there.

This is the same for any business, for profit or not. If you are not promoting yourself, how are people going to know what you stand for? Growth will only take place once you get that through your head. Luckily there are many options that are low to no cost, i.e. Social Media (You knew I was going to go there).

My favorite quote comes from Jay Baer. He said, "Social Media isn't expensive, it's different expensive." Social media really does not need to cost you anything, anything that is but your time. It can be very time consuming to get going but well worth it in the end. It is a way to connect with so many people on so many different levels. The tools you can use are almost endless and all depend on what it is you need. Try Tweetgrid or Twitter Search for finding people to follow. Use Tweetdeck, Hootsuite or CoTweet to post to your many different networks. WeFollow is a great directory full of useful information on who to follow that may be in your geographical area and industry, as well as a spot to add yourself or your organization. Use Google Alerts to find blogs and news articles pertaining to your industry.

There are many tools you can use to help you on your way to conquering the Social Media kingdom. Did I miss any that you prefer? Tell me in the comments! Follow us on Twitter and we can continue the conversation there as well.

We will have a Facebook page soon!