Use Social Media to Your Business' Advantage

With millions of new Twitter names, blogs and Facebook accounts on the Web, making your mark in social media can be difficult — especially for a small business that is already inundated with balancing a budget and other responsibilities. But making your presence known is possible.

Ad Club of Metropolitan Washington sponsored a panel discussion at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring on Wednesday with top professionals who specialize in strategic social media planning for businesses. The panelist included Gayle Weiswasser, vice president of social media at Discovery Communications; Jack Macleod, vice president of business development at New Media Strategies; and Cary Lawrence, vice president of business development at SocialCode.

Here are five tips you can use to boost your business presence on the Web through social media:

• Social Media Gives Insight: Use social media to learn more about your customers and what they may want. This technique can help you build loyalty, drive customers to your main website and gain support for initiatives that you are doing in the community.

• Contests Equal Engagement: This is a great way to create engagement on your website and understand your customer base. For example, create a contest with three different sets of criteria and draw conclusions about your customer base from the number of submissions your receive in each category.

• Balance Your Social Media: Control the amount of times you post into someone's stream. Don't post just because you didn't post in a while — this can be perceived as intrusive. Make sure that whatever you post into the social media stream is worth it.

• Go Further to Engage Twitter Users: If you see a hot topic in the news that people are talking about that pertains to your business, start a conversation. Include Twitter handles in the message box with a note about the user's opinion. Include a link to your website and ask people to comment on your Web site about the issue. (Be sure to have a place for them to comment on your blog or website.)

• Blogs Still Play an Important Role: Facebook and Twitter play important roles in engaging people, but blogs are still relevant. People continue to turn to blogs for curated information in their community.