Not all controversial subjects are bad business.

  As told by many social media gurus, when there is negativity on your Facebook page or website, you need to deal with it in the best positive light for your company or business.
  But what about a special interest page? Let's take, for example, a page about global warming. This is quite a controversial topic and people have strong feelings in support or against it.
  Here is an important fact you need to remember. Controversy works for the person(s) who run that page. It increases their influence in that particular topic. Why is that important? All the hits, comments, likes, go into the algorithm that increases the capability of that page or website to "rise to the top" of search engines. The content goes viral.
  This does not mean you should go creating controversial threads or posts on purpose because it can eventually backfire. However, when it does happen, don't shy away from it. Moderate!

City pages on the rise in Social Media.

  It takes a real commitment to build a business. The same commitment is required when building a social media campaign. One thing that is coming out of our country's downturn is the rise of people building business pages for their hometown in order to attract more people to the small business. The backbone of this country.
  The team of Jason Turner and Brenda McGuire created the page Roanoke Doesn't Suck because they were sick and tired of people complaining that there was nothing to do around town. They talk about local businesses and fun events that are coming up. They do everything they can to bring a sense of community awareness to the city.
  Lora Trout began on Facebook with a page called Promote Commotion because she kept hearing about the same thing. She loves promoting people within the community and their services.
  Gwenda Kellett began a website named Main Street Salem upon hearing some of the local businesses possibly closing due to lack of foot traffic and sales. This website is the most comprehensive of all the local sites. Pages with different types of services are locked and loaded.
  However, none of these sites could exist without help. Usually in the form of advertisements and space on their page that describes your business and links to the business web pages. The amount of traffic that these sites are receiving is ASTOUNDING. Main Street Salem began recently and is receiving hundreds of hits daily! This exposure is better and less expensive than taking an ad out in the newspaper or making a commercial. The more hits these pages receive, the better word spreads about your business. Since my business started it's listing with Main Street Salem, visitors to my page have TRIPLED. My job? Making sure my site stays current, fresh, and relevant to the client I envision being able to reach. It's nice to have traffic, but you have to be able to use your site and yourself to close the deal! My advice? Get your business listed with one of the above or ask about their services!

  

Why Small Businesses Should be Thinking about a Social Media Plan

   Did you know that by not using social media that you are losing out to the competition that does? Social media needs to become a part of your present marketing plan if it is not already. It is alright to start small with a Facebook business page or a Twitter account, as long as you start! Think of social media influence as the cherry on your ice cream sundae. So what should your social media campaign include?

• Ask your customers which platform they use most. Do they use Facebook? Twitter? Google+? How often do they use social media and what for? By getting a overall, general view of how your customer base uses social media, you can build the content around it.
• Hire a professional. Why? You need someone you can trust that will help explain the technology and the nuances behind these new ideas. Here are a few of my recommendations for the Roanoke, VA, area:
• John Lusher Consulting
• Coty Connections
• The Social Buzz Lab
• Create content around your business base. Creating content can be as simple as blog postings up the interesting things you do or happens in your business. People always like good news and good stories! Try to refrain from any negativity when at all possible!
• Share Content related to your business by other businesses. Always recognize and cheer others on! It helps your business in return! The nice guy finishes first in this case!
• INTERACT. Successful social media techniques require you to interact with your customer base! There is an old adage in retail, if one customer has one bad experience, they tell 20 friends, and their friends tell 20 friends... and so on. 

  So what's stopping you from creating a campaign? Hop to it!