This is the third in a series of four posts, which describe how businesses can get started in social media.  In part one of this series we defined the goals for the social media campaign.  Part two covered the process of creating a social media marketing plan.  In this post we’ll establish our social presence and get started communicating with existing and potential customers.

Get started using social media.

I’ll focus on Facebook, Twitter and a blog as these are the most common social media platforms for businesses just getting started in social media.

1)   Facebook – set up a company page not a personal profile for your business.  You’ll need a personal profile to login to Facebook.  Once you’re logged in click on the link in the lower left CREATE A PAGE FOR MY BUSINESS.  Fill in all the information to create the “Official Page.”

2)   Twitter – set up a Twitter account for business.  You may want to have multiple accounts based on how you want to use Twitter (e.g., customer service, communication, PR, etc.)

3)   Blog – The most popular providers include LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress.com, Xanga and Webs. These sites are pre-made with templates and push-button publishing that don’t require much technical know-how.  If you want the blog design to match that of your website, you’ll need a designer and programmer to do that for you.

4)   Integrate – Set-up your Facebook page so that any blog posts automatically replicate onto your FB page and any posts to Facebook automatically propagate to Twitter.  That will allow you to post once to your blog and the content will automatically replicate on all your social profiles.  (See my post on next week on how to do this.)

5)   Post – Get started posting content that is relevant to your customers.  Keep to a regular schedule for posting so your readers will know what to expect.

6)   Announce – Add the Facebook and Twitter icons, and add a link to your blog to your website.  Send an email to your customer/prospect list announcing your social presence.  Spread the word as widely as possible.

Follow these simple steps to get your business up and running.  In the next and final post in this series I will cover how you measure your progress, and will provide some strategies for ensuring your success.