The Social Media Marketer

Social Media Development - How to Introduce Yourself Properly

Remember that painful first junior high dance?

Some of us stood along the sides of the gym, waiting to be asked to dance. Others flung themselves right onto the floor, dancing hard and trying to get others' attention -- waiting to be asked to dance.

And what happened when the songs that really mattered started up? Those slow ones? That's right, nobody got asked to dance.  And that, in a nutshell, is what happens to many companies in their quest to be noticed in the wide world of social media sites.

Some stand by the sidelines, timidly tapping their feet and hoping to get noticed. Others fling themselves right out there, posting haphazardly all over the Internet, thinking that by making a lot of noise, they're going to get more attention.

And at the end of the night, nobody is asking either one to dance.  Why is this, do you think?  Well,when many people or companies are devising their social media development strategies, they often forget one thing -- the value of a good introduction.

Most are online with a website or blog before attempting to make their social media plans. So why not combine the two by introducing your presence on a social media site on your website.  If you have a blog or a full-fledged website, most social media sites offer ways to promote your presence on them. Those are called widgets, and putting one of those on your website immediately introduces your visitors to your social media presence.

You can also introduce your presence through the use of creative means to get people to your social media site link.  For example, I have a friend who is trying to build up the number of visitors to her website. She came up with the idea of creating a contest for a drawing for a sizeable Amazon. com gift card to people who join her fan page on Facebook. She is holding the drawing after she attracts 1,000 fans.

So she's used e-mailings, press releases to other sites similar to hers and let everybody know that if they join that fan page, they're in the drawing for the gift card. And of course, the fan page links back to her website.  In two days, she's attracted 100 new fans, and her website has had more than 800 new views, so I'd say that's a pretty succesful introduction.

Another thing to remember when working on your social media development plans is to introduce your presence by giving people on your website updates about what other people are saying about you.  Twitter has a very good widget that allows you to easily add this feature to your website, and when people see others talking about you, they'll be very tempted to join in.

In other words, you'll finally have someone to dance with!