If you are just getting started with social media and maybe if you have already started, you wonder which social networking platforms are the right ones for you and your business.  That’s a good questions and one that should be addressed before or at least very early when starting your campaign.

Some would say that you should be everywhere in order to reach all of your customers and potential customers.  The fact is, though, that you cannot possibly manage that many accounts well.  There is only a certain amount of time available each day that you can devote to your social media campaign and it just doesn’t make sense to spread yourself so thin that you cannot give it your best effort.  It makes much more sense to be in fewer places allowing you the time to manage those accounts well.

Your job then is to determine where your customers are.  Let’s face it, everyone is on Facebook and many are on Twitter so they are probably a given.  The nice thing about these two accounts is that they can be managed together from TweetDeck or something like it.  Depending upon who your customers are, FourSquare might be a great marketing tool.  If you have a yarn shop you may want to consider Ravelry which is a social network for people interested in knitting and crocheting.  A book store might consider LibraryThing which is for book lovers or a music store might consider Last.fm which is about music.  Ravelry, LibraryThing and Last.fm maybe aren’t places you want to be for social networking but might be considered for PPC advertising if you sell from a website in addition to your store.

The possibilities are endless but what you really need to consider is what you can handle well.  And, once you have decided where you need to be, be sure to let your customers know where you are.  Put links to your accounts in your print ads, on your business cards, on your web site and in any email or direct mail you send.  Make it as easy as possible for people to find you.  And then, have fun with it.  It can be as enjoyable for you as it is for your customers.

Photo credit:  iQoncept

If you are anything like me, you have a number of online accounts that all require user names and passwords.  Some accounts assign user names and passwords and some let you choose what you would like to use.  Either way though, that’s more information you need to keep track of.

Initially, I tried to keep track of everything on an Excel spreadsheet.  This works as long as you keep the file open for easy reference and keep it sorted in such a way that it makes sense to you.  Every time you add new information though, the spreadsheet has to be resorted so finding the information you need is quick and easy.  What a pain.

Well, there’s an easier way.  By using a “password manager” program, the headache of remembering user names and passwords is gone.

There are many programs available to do this.  Some are online programs, some are based on your computer, and many are free.  I see nothing wrong with the free programs and would suggest you try one of them before even considering paying for this service.   Examples of free password manager programs are KeePass, LastPass, My Password Manager, Sticky Password and Robo Form.  This is just a very short list of what’s available.  If one of these programs doesn’t interest you, search “password manager” and you will get a huge list of companies you can research.

Hope this information helps some of you.  If something is causing you a pain, there’s a good chance the solution is simple.  Contact us to see if we can help.

Photo credit:  Vimrod1