Three-Step Social Media Plan for Small
to Medium Size Businesses
(Blog, eMail Newsletter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Ning, Plaxo, etc..)

Who is this plan for?

This plan is for the owners of small to medium size businesses, to include sole proprietors with no employees.

What is this three-step plan based on?

This plan is based on more than a year's worth of research, and countless requests for information and success stories from small to medium size businesses using online social media.

There is no sales pitch in this plan!

There is no sales pitch for services from my company within the plan steps. Your success from this plan will grow my business through referrals.

Simple to understand plan!

The plan steps below are simple to understand, although for some they may not be easy to implement.

No dollar cost!

The good news is, this plan does not cost any money to implement!

Time is an the obstacle to success!

At the core of the plan is time. Not just time, but an unwavering commitment to a consistent amount of time each week. Dedicating time will be the biggest obstacle to your success. You must make a time commitment to the plan. If you don't make this time commitment, you will be better served as a business owner, not getting into social online media at all, or hiring someone to do it for you.

Too many businesses waste time/money because they approach social media without a plan!

There are at least 10 very very popular social media tools out there, and probably more than 100 less popular one's. It's easy to get lost and overwhelmed out there. You will waste large amounts of time with absolutely no benefit to your company, if you just go for it without a plan!

What is the time commitment?

For the plan to succeed, you as the business owner must make a minimum time commitment of 45 minutes a week towards the plan. If you have employees, utilize them as part of the plan and spend more time than the minimum 45 minutes.

Here is the Three-Step Plan

Follow these steps in order. This online media plan will not be successful if you skip steps one or two.

Step One:

You must have a Website! The one constant that continues to be the main stay of the online business world is a company's Website. What do you do? How do I get a hold of you? Where are you located? What are your CURRENT specials? What is NEW with your company? etc, etc, etc. YOUR WEBSITE MUST STAY CURRENT!

In the next three years there will probably be 30 or more new online social media break through's that come and go. Your Website will still be there.

Step Two:

Start a "business" blog! You, or someone in your company needs to write in it once a week. As a business owner you know things about your industry that others do not. Write in your blog about your business or about current events in your industry.

A blog is another constant out on there on the Internet that is not going away. What you write today on your blog will be categorized and available to people for months and years to come. A blog over time will establish you as an expert in your industry.

- I HAVE NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT IN A BLOG ! -

Everyone worries that they will have nothing to blog about. It's easy to get past that. Just once a week read something online about your industry and then write your opinion about it. You don't need to be writing a book or coming up with new ideas. We all have opinions, correct?

You can start a free blog at www.wordpress.com or www.blogger.com

In the next three years there will probably be 30 or more new online social media break through's that come and go. Your blog will still be there.

Step Three:

Start with one online social media tool and use it to drive awareness to your blog and Website!

Use this one social media tool just as you would any networking event where you have the opportunity to talk about your business. Use it like you would a Chamber of Commerce event, radio advertising, tv advertising, BNI membership, trade show, or any other type of live networking event. Use the online tool to advertise your company, your products, services and events by getting them to your Website and blog.

All that is going on with your company MUST be on your Website or blog.

Use social media to get people there!

Once you have your first social media tool working for you, consider a second, third and forth. BUT only if you have the time to dedicate to it, AND the first one is working for your company.

- - Critical points about social media - -

- - You cannot reach everyone on every online social media tool. Don't even try to! Grow into them one at a time. (Which one first? See below)

- - Online "social" media can be personal or business related. Create separate business and personal accounts and keep the type of information on them separate. If you have a business Twitter account, don't use that account to talk about your sister's, cousin's, nephew's first tooth. Same with FaceBook. Only business related information should be shared on those accounts. Remember the information should first be on your Website or blog and you're using the social tools to tell people about how to get there to read, learn or get more.

- - Present the same image of your company on how ever many tools you use.

- - As a business owner with employees, don't try to be the entire social online presence for your company. Share the load, but make sure the message being put out there is consistent.

Contrary to all the hype out there "Everyone" is not using Twitter!!

Number of Employees to Online Media Usage Ratio Chart