Almost everyone knows about Twitter and Facebook. Most might know LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. But, does using any of these Social Media platforms to promote your business seem confusing and not exactly intuitive to you?

You’re not alone. It seems like there's a new hot platform every day. You feel like you barely know how to use Facebook or Twitter in your personal life. And now, some millennial is going to tell you that you need to be using social media to market your business?

The world is changing and social media hasn’t faded away. Blogs are more popular than ever, and everyone who is a part of that world or wants to get into it needs to be using social media. It isn’t just for bloggers though, if you have a small to medium business – it will help you too.

Social Media helps your business gain exposure, generate traffic to your website, and promote your blog. I know it seems difficult, but really it’s easy and inexpensive. They’re generally free to join and give you a wide audience to reach.

I attend many networking events.  While I always being the "authentic me," my tone differs at a breakfast networking event at 7:30 am vs. a happy hour at 7:30 pm.  With social media, your tone should change as well from one platform to another. So what is the difference between your company's voice and its tone and what tone is appropriate to use on each platform?

Social Media is a series of ever-changing algorithms that are supposed to help customers better find the product or service for which they are searching.  However as entrepreneurs, social media can be a frustrating marketing tool that changes the minute you figure it out.  It is also becoming more clear that social media is not about how many posts, but what you post that will make the difference.

At Marketing Eye Dallas our job is to watch these changes and determine the best means of keeping your product or service in front of your target market.  Similar to the job of a financial advisor who watches the stock market, Marketing Eye Dallas guides its clients on when to adjust your marketing strategy, when to be patience, and when to try something new based on changes in marketing channels and tools.

If you haven't been watching every new article on the changes for each social media platform, let us fill you in on what is new.

There was a time when personal networks, the neighborhood grapevine and the yellow pages were the extent of a B2B company's marketing plan. Times have changed and the way customers buy is much different.  No one is waiting around for a sales person to ring or share more about a company's product or service.

Now, customers walk around with a computer in their hand at all times.  If a question comes to mind, there is an answer at your fingertips. Ever view a group of people waiting to walk into a meeting, to get on a flight, or pick to their child up from practice?  They are all on their phones.

Depending on the product, 50% - 80% of the buying decision has been narrowed down or determined before a salesperson is ever engaged. 

So, what does this mean for you? It means that if your marketing strategy does not include proper web communication and mobility, social media and digital communications, you are missing a big part of your audience. 

Have you been on lag about signing up for a Snapchat account? Feeling outdated is a struggle many might feel and is definitely one I have come across and I’m not even old!

This is an app that my kids use and when I talk about using Snapchat, they like to make fun of me. Until I signed up, I didn’t know how much fun it could be, so I started using it as a means of communication with my children, sending funny images to posting stories that provide valuable content to collogues and fellow classmates.  Personally I enjoy it for its simplicity and value to my work.

Snapchat isn’t just for young adults anymore. Many adults and business professionals are now using Snapchat to communicate, share images, recipes, promotions, and other content about their industry through this free app. It’s the new way to market and advertise what’s going on in your industry.

Getting the most out of LinkedIn extends beyond just making connections. Think of your LinkedIn as a true networking tool where you can participate from your laptop or mobile device. If you go to a networking event and then never follow-up, engage in any additional events or discussions, you will be forgotten after your business card lands in someone's pocket.

If you are not comfortable making connections on LinkedIn, visit my previous blog on generating leads on LinkedIn. If you are making connections and sending follow-up messages, take the next steps to engage with your contacts through LinkedIn Posts.

Analyst group Merrill Lynch recently found that spending among women in the US is a staggering$5 trillion dollarsa year.

Most important, women are multiple markets in one.  Because women serve as primary caregivers for children and the elderly in virtually every society in the world, women buy on behalf of the people who live in their households and influence the buying habits of their friends.

So as marketers we must determine how to target this powerful demographic.

I get it, marketing is frustrating.  It's not fast, it can be unpredictable and even with modern analytics it can be difficult to measure.

What I can tell you is that if you don't put together a marketing strategy, you are as good as hiding.  If your website isn't mobile friendly and optimized, it can been like finding a needle in a haystack on Google.  Yes, people can type your business name in, but what if people don't know your name or they misspell your business name? Then what?

Last week I wrote a blog about blogging; I know that sounds slightly ironic.  After speaking with a few people who read the blog , the one question I kept  receiving was, "How do I use this blog to help me generate leads?"  After you have spent your valuable time working on a blog, that you feel will be helpful to your audience, you need post that article in a place that will get read by your intended audience.

If you read last week's blog, you know that your blogs should be more informational and not a sales pitch.  Go with the 80/20 rule on informational vs. sales blog.  Add some personality, keep the word count at a reasonable level, make the blog readable and blog consistently.  You can find more about blogging here.

For this article, I'm going to assume you load your blog to your website.  It's not only a great component of your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy, it's the place you want to drive traffic (assuming you have a good website).  It's the website that will do your sales pitch, not the blog.

The blog is written and posted, now let's get the word out...