In addition to the general ways you can use social networking to promote your business, there are specific things you can use specific sites for as well.
Twitter is a good example. You can set up a Google alert inside your Twitter account that will alert you whenever anyone on Twitter uses specific keywords that are related to your business. How does this work? Let’s get away from the dog washing industry for a moment and say you have an auto towing business.
Your Google alert tells you that someone has Tweeted that they are stranded on the side of the road in your service area. You can then respond to that Tweet with an offer of your services and dispatch a truck right away if they agree.
When you do this you’ve accomplished a few important things. Yes, you’ve picked up a service call – but you will also generate some positive buzz for being so quickly responsive to that person’s needs.
In fact, you can use all of your social networking sites as an integral part of your customer service efforts. Respond to complaints with an offer to make things right; respond to compliments with gratitude. In the age of the Internet, business is all about establishing positive customer relationships. With the caveat being that everyone and their uncle can instantly see what you’re doing right – and what you’re doing wrong.
Another social networking site, LinkedIn, offers a special opportunity to promote your business site.
Note: Once you have your account set up, you can boost your business in LinkedIn and other searches by creating a link to your main website or URL. For SEO purposes LinkedIn will follow the link and give you 100% credit for a page rank 7 link. This is a step you want to take to help you SEO more than you social media campaign.