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Getting Into Marketing Your Business
Free tools that can push your business to the top
What do you need to do, minimum, to stay on top of social media marketing for your design or development business? In this article, Linda lists free tools that can push your business to the top. The drawback? Your time for learning curves and to maintain activity.
Nine Online Media Marketing Essentials
I've covered many of the following tools in previous articles. If you have the time and tools to create all nine venues to market your graphic design or development business, then you probably won't have time to conduct your business. But, you can get around this time factor with various tricks that I'll pass on to you today. The list below is in no particular order, other than I've prioritized the list according to my particular preferences:
- Blogs: A blog, which show entries in chronological order (for the most part), is the foundation for your marketing.
- RSS: Really Simple Syndication provides a way for you to feed your blog entries, microblogs and other content into a feed that others can use to stay updated with your information.
- MicroBlogging: This is another word for updating your followers through a tool like Twitter.
- Social Bookmarking: Share what is important to you with others through sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon.
- Social Networking: Use these sites (or create one) to connect with other designers and developers. You can find co-workers, jobs and friendships and followers through sites created specifically for Web workers.
- PhotoSharing: This is one topic I have not covered yet. Use this tool to share photos of events you attend, your work and more.
- Podcasts: Another topic I have not covered yet. This tool can help you to connect with followers through digital audio, distributed via the Internet for playback on a user's computer or portable media device like an iPod or other mp3 player.
- Video Sharing: Use this tool to share your knowledge (How-To videos), to let others know what you're doing, to create an archive of events, and to share your work. YouTube is the most well-known venue for this activity, but other venues exist for those designers who count video as a talent in a design portfolio.
- Wikis: Use this venue to share your knowledge and to build a following through links. Wikis also are a great resource to build community and to communicate with peers or potential clients.
I consider a blog as the foundation for the rest of the marketing tools shown above. RSS follows, as this tool is one way to get that blog out to readers. Also, you can link other tools into RSS to create a multi-media syndication through formats such as Friendfeed.
Once you have a blog and RSS, then you can begin microblogging to help get word out about your activities (skip breakfast and lunch, please, unless you're meeting with someone who may be of interest to your followers). Microblogging formats such as Twitter also provide a way for you to lead people to your blog through your profile.
Social bookmarking is important in that it can provide you with a way to share information that you discover on the Web. The rest of the tools mainly help followers understand more about you and your talents and your activities. If you can find time to manage the first four items on the list above, then you've accomplished more than many of your peers. Anything else is lagniappe (a Louisiana Cajun word that means 'a little extra something special, or a benefit').
Linda Goin
Linda Goin carries an A.A. in graphic design, a B.F.A. in visual communications with a minor in business and marketing and an M.A. in American History with a minor in the Reformation. While the latter degree doesn't seem to fit with the first two educational experiences, Linda used her 25-year design expertise on archaeological digs and in the study of material culture. Now she uses her education and experiences in social media experiments.
Accolades for her work include fifteen first-place Colorado Press Association awards, numerous fine art and graphic design awards, and interviews about content development with The Wall St. Journal, Chicago Tribune, Psychology Today, and L.A. Times.