I was interviewed a couple-few weeks ago — right before PodCamp Ohio — by Columbus, Ohio-based Mya Frazier but lost track of the article, which I just discovered today in the form of 5 social media tips for small business, which is cool. Here’s my part, but please check out the complete article here.
“All you have to do is give a (Twitter) handle and start a conversation. You could put the Twitter handle on the menu or in the restaurant,” says Chris Abraham, Abraham Harrison LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based digital public relations agency. Granted, social networking sites are still for early adopters.
“You aren’t going to get Aunt Matilda to tweet about the experience she had at dinner,” Abraham says.
Abraham considers Twitter one of the easiest ways for a newbie to social media to get started.
“It’s more challenging to do Facebook,” Abraham says. “You have to create a personal profile, create a page and so on. With Twitter, if you’re Joe Smith with Motorcycle Emporium, you don’t have to create a page. And you can create Twitter updates via a phone or mobile device easily.”
“Don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” he says. “There are lots of people sold on really expensive solutions, but two of the best investments for reaching out to people and engaging with them are free on Twitter and Facebook.”
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Even with the spread of microblogging, Abraham remains a big fan of traditional blogs, which are lengthier and show up on Web sites. In general, no matter what form the blog takes, it should be consistent over time.
“If you can’t keep up one (blog) post a day or 12 tweets a day, do one tweet every Thursday. Consistency in blogging or tweeting will create a relationship of trust with your followers or readers. Do it once a week, but for the next two years,” Abraham says.
And don’t spend extra money on blogging software, technical help or a ghost writer for your blog.
“To get started, try free free services like WordPress or Blogger,” he says. “The technology should not get in the way of the communications.”
