By Yusuf Chowdhury
Social Media is no longer a “fad.” Are you aware that the Library of Congress is now indexing all tweets? Facebook’s “like” button is all over the internet. Remember back in the 90′s when the internet was growing and Yahoo was big?
Not anymore. Google has been in charge for the last few years; and Google itself is evolving. There is a cultural shift that is current: gone are the days where there are companies with no website, blog, or both. Those companies say, “Follow us on Twitter,” and they include the call-to-action buttons from Linkedin, YouTube, and Google Buzz.
According to webnation, in 2009 Facebook was No.1; followed by YouTube, and Google.
I discovered Social Media in 2006 while helping a friend with projects in short films, videos and blogs. Without spending a dime on advertising our project took off beyond our wildest expectations. Inside of a year we had reached more than nine million viewers – nine million. The project was non-profit, but its effect and impact was huge.
I then realized the potential that Social Media plays. This gave me the opportunity to consult with many non-profit organizations, small businesses, and online education groups to help them use Social Media and online marketing to find ways to promote and advance their businesses. It also gave them an opportunity to expand their brand using blogs and social networking sites.
There are several reasons why you should consider social media.
1. It’s Free
Yes! Marketing your website with social media is free. It does not cost you anything except your time. You can generate free traffic with your blog.
2. It’s Fast
It is unlike building a website; that takes some time and effort. With social networking sites such as Facebook and blogs; with a WordPress platform you can develop content and be seen by thousands of visitors within short periods of time.
3. It’s Easy
With consistency and practice you can establish and attract social media users to your blog. The more you use social media, the more you will understand how it works and how users will respond. I use some form of social media every day. As a “new” user you don’t have to spend more than an hour a day; often times less. You can manage this, but what is important is the consistency in interacting with your audience.
4. Branding
One of the great benefits of using social media is personal or business branding. Branding is key to building a successful blog in the long-term, and social media is an excellent, free option for helping visitors see your blog. This can also create loyal customers and long term relationships.
5. Reachable
Social media and social networking aren’t going away any time soon. This being apparent in our culture, as business owners we should take advantage of this opportunity.
Bio:
Yusuf is An Entrepreneur, Internet marketing consultant, Social media strategist, and Network marketer. Yusuf Chowdhury gets great satisfaction from empowering others to start their businesses, become independent, grow, and create a lasting legacy for themselves and their families. Visit me @ http://onlinebusinessowners.org/
Awesome intro to Social Media for all business owners! If you’re looking to get started, Yusuf is your go-to-guy!
Thanks Dillon! I appreciate your kind words and support
Excellent post, Yusuf. I’ve got No.s 1, 2, and 3 in hand, and working on No. 4 to be in position to for No.5. Thanks for the information.
You are most welcome my brother. Keep doing what you doing.
Yusuf, In your estimation, in 2006, what was the most effective/productive tool you used to reach 9 million viewers? and now in 2011 has that tool changed? How and what would you recommend as a place to start in today’s social media landscape?
Thanks for the great question. I used to upload weekly videos to more than 15 video sharing sites manually and engage in social network sites like myspace, youtube and some forums. Basically consistency and contents were the main factors and we only focused on blog and youtube, even though we were submitting contents to all other social networking site. The number is increasing till this day. And our facebook pages is growing day by day without me doing anything on them
If you want to submit your videos you can use http://www.tubemogul.com/ or http://pixelpipe.com/.
Great post Yusuf. Do you agree with those companies that do not have a website/blog? I think the website/blog is the foundation to yoru social media strategy. It takes content to start conversations.
Companies that do not have a website/blog are making the biggest mistake. The shift it’s already there and if they don’t act now it will be too late for them. And yes I agree with you blog is the foundation to yoru social media strategy and that is how we built our brand
Really good information yusuf and I like your personal story of how you got into social media. Good stuff once again!
Thanks Lynn. I am glad you enjoyed it as well
Yusuf,
You made this sound very simple and it is after you have plugged in the hours learning it. For a non geek, getting a regular blog post up can take more than an hour..the follow-up may be less but it is certainly a huge learning curve. Well worth it as you have said.
That is true for non geek or newbies it might take few hours and sometime weeks just to setup the social networking sites and blog. But after that consistency and contents will take them to the next level. Another service that can make things easier for any non geek or newbies is : http://buildyourfreeblog.com/
As always yusuf Great content! short and to the point love it!
Thanks Joshua! I am glad you mentioned that because I really want to keep it short and simple to the point where anyone can implement.
Yusuf, Great article! I would have loved to see a link to the first project you spoke about though! Thanks for sharing this info with us!
Sure Susan. The 1st project I worked on is
Check the blog and other sites associated with it. I am still working on these project till this day 
http://ummahfilms.com/ and everything started from there
Thank you so much for the re-tweet. I’ll check out your twitter account