When people think of Social Media, a couple of the first things they think of are Facebook and Twitter. It can be difficult to make the connection between those platforms and how they can help your business. But that's an entire conversation on its own. Today I would like to help open your eyes to just how vast Social Media is, and what all it can offer to your business.

There are so many different areas and platforms in Social Media that can help your business market itself. Today, I want to focus on 5 areas that should be considered when building your Social Media Strategy. 

1) Social Listening
Listen for conversations about your company, competitors or other topics of interest. A knowledge of what is being said about your company is huge in helping you decide how to position yourself on Social Media. 
 - Some great social listening / monitoring tool recommendations include Meltwater Buss and Social Mention.

2) Social Conversation
Finding and responding to conversations online will help you engage with others on Social Media.
 - Social conversation / social engagement tool options include Argyle Social and Hootsuite. 

3) Social Marketing
Launching and running campaigns and promotions on Social Media can be difficult to navigate, but are necessary to help promote your business.
 - Social marketing tools include Buddy Media and Shortstack.

4) Social Analytics
Measuring and analyzing results of Social Media efforts across various platforms can be tedious work, but there are some tools that can help make this much easier and more efficient for you. 
 - Some social analytic tools include Simply Measured and Sprout Social. 

5) Social Influencer
Identifying and engaging with influencers that are relevant to your company or industry can really help push your product and get your name out there. 
 - Some tools you can use to help you with this include GroupHigh and Klout. 

All forms of Social Media are important to help promote your business. Facebook and Twitter are a great place to start, but if you want to bring your business a little deeper into Social Media or are feeling overwhelmed, these tools and tips can definitely help you. Never underestimate the importance of Social Media for your business. If you don't know what is being said about your company, or even if anything is being said at all, then how can you monitor the online appearance of your business? Stay on top of trends and customers will appreciate it. 

We sure have learned a lot about our Online Presence Blueprint! It can be a lot of work, and it can be intimidating...but if you spend the time and effort maintaining your online presence, it will be worth your time. 

So far we have learned to listen to our audience, how to build content foundation, make our content sharable, change our point of view to suit eBooks, make our content deliverable, the purpose of Landing Pages, how to make email communication work and how to create and maintain social profiles. 

Last month we learned all about Social Profiles, the best ways to set up and maintain them so that you are positioning yourself properly and effectively. Today, we continue on with the "social" aspect of your online presence by learning to integrate yourself socially. Now that you know how to position yourself, you need to be aware of the best things for sharing to appeal to your audience on Social Media Networks. Below are some tips to help you through this. 

Month 9: Social Integration
- create content and follow others routinely to amplify your position on Social Media Networks
- focus on 1-2 prime objectives
- like 10 Facebook Pages and interact with each of them
- share ideas instead of pitches
- Join 10 LinkedIn groups with active conversations
- create a Twitter list of potential strategic partners
- merge your online and offline social networks

Social Media is a fast growing avenue for marketing, and can be a VERY effective tool. But you need to be careful that you are using it properly. If it is not maintained and used properly it can become a waste of time. Make sure you are dedicating the right amount of time to your social networks, and if you can't, hire someone who can.