So much truth in this statement: "you can do all this yourself if you have the right time, energy and commitment" the keywords here being Time, Energy, and most importantly COMMITMENT! This is what I find people always have the hardest time with in regard to marketing themselves well. If your not willing to make it a regular priority your never going to anything out of it. That is why it's so important to establish a good content strategy and time expectations early on, making sure you prioritize all your branding and marketing goals properly will lead to more successes than failures in the long term. It just takes time to build good community and connect with the right people.

#1 is really valuable to start ups who tend to want to boil the ocean rather than concentrate on a budgeted business pain. Crafting a brand rooted in a customer pain is a good way of ensuring that you are providing a solution that someone would actually pay money for. Don't forget the suggestion from Dharmesh Shah- start blogging six months before you start shipping your first product, so that you can surround yourself with the right community of prospects, potential employees, thought leaders and maybe investors.

Nice. This one is getting a social bookmark for sure. It's a great message on how technology is very friendly to the small business owner who may not have carte blanche credit lines (well, I guess many large corporations have lost this privilege as well).

I've witnessed your company take action on #3 by co-creating a popular campaign with Olympus and the popular 'will it blend' videos right here. Great work!

How might this be applied to a very specific market, like an online luxury product boutique, where freebies have to be given out conservatively? How do you modify these techniques according to the industry?

Thanks for the list. Good to use as a checklist to see where we can do better.  
 
However I would add one more: Monitor the direct impact your Social Media strategy has on your website.  
 
We believe the traffic generated directly by our social media strategy can be used as a good indicator for the indirect impact as well.

brilliant blog. great tips. I appreciate the concrete advice.

Thanks for another good article on implementing social media to help grow business. I am taking the above into consideration as we evaluate our PR strategy for '10. The biggest question facing us is the role bloggers should have relative to old-line outlets such as BW and FT.

What great info!! I'm sharing it with our resale directory members. Most eBay consignment, resale, and antique businesses have a tight marketing budget. Thanks so much! 
 
Linda

Matt: 
Agreed it does take time. But there are ways to develop good habits and start conversations that take off by themselves. At the beginning it can seem overwhelming, but you (and all companies)have far more content than they realize.

Dan: 
Think about the line "there's an app for that." It's a reminder that every consumer has a need, a problem, a challenge or a desire. Start the conversation there, rather than with what you do is good advice for any brand.

Dan Ronken: 
Thanks for that. Interestingly, while we're really proud of that campaign and it was a smashing success, I've become more interested in turning it into an enduring platform that lives beyond the campaign. One way to do that is with a constantly engaging social media program, with "free" content to help users, and perhaps with new tools and utilities that keep people coming back.

You hit the nail on the head with "hint: it’s not an intern or a kid right out of school". It takes a lot of time and effort, but it also takes experience. I don't think marketing comes naturally to many people, even though they've been marketing themselves since childbirth. It does take imagination, creativity and the ability to step outside one's own shoes.

Nice Checklist. 

Edward great tips thanks! 
 
I can tell you that Dharmesh, CEO of HubSpot, utilizes some of these himself. 
 
He uses 99designs.com for example for crowdsourced graphic design. 
Here is a clip of him talking about it. 
 
http://bit.ly/1bNb4b 
 
Cheers, 
Jason Aiken 
99designs.com

Solid list. All of those ingredients are necessary for maximizing your personal brand. Provide a clear message to your audience, offer incentives, and just be sure to stay active with those who follow your company. Simple concepts. Great results.

I totally agree with your advice regarding making your site look like a blog. That's has been my idea I think at the long run, having a combination site- blog saves more time and effort. Of course it's easier said than done, especially when, like in my case, you are doing it yourself and the 'homemade, amateur' look is inevitable..., but with mentors like you who have so much to contribute to us IM newbies, it will only get easier.  
 
Thank You! 
 
Luz

These suggestions are all perfect examples of how Peninsula Shops is building a following and customer base on the San Francisco mid-peninsula.

Great info here - I love it. 
 
I would also suggest capturing leads, if you are developing all of this traffic and brand recognition.  
 
Twitter is actually great for getting people to sign up for your newsletter, free offer or whatever. 
 
Nothing like having a huge email list of people who are already interested in your offerings :) 
 
My Story

Great blogpost and so many startups miss item #1. With so much happening and evolving in real time for social media, this is only going to become more and more important. Thanks for the great post!

Great articles on this website, very informative. Look forward to reading more and using the information on my website. Cheers. 
 
http://www.wetpapernews.com

This is truly great stuff. One of the best I've read in a long time for real small business value. I think the point about crafting a brand message around benefits NOT capabilities is especially important. Many thanks!

If you don't have time to read Gary's new book Crush it, you can get the cliff notes here http://cliffnotebooks.com/crush-gary-vaynerchuk-cliff-notes/ and others

Great to read a perspective on social media from an agency guy who has clearly made the leap. One point needs further thought = (9) give stuff away for free. I get that, but at some point you need to monitize your brand building. Hubspot doesn't give away their software for free. At what point, and how to make the transition from free to fee I think is really important, and not talked about that much.

This is a great article. Thanks for posting. Excellent pointers. 
 
 
 
--- 
 
Mike Locke 
 
ML Web Consulting

Brilliant post. I've been kind of feeling like I'm dying on Twitter lately, though I started out well over a year ago. So, tonight I posted this article on Twitter; my way of sharing with the masses.

Ending each blog post with a question is one way to get people to comment on your blog. It's tough to get people to engage with you at first.

An absolutely brilliant post that de-mistifies social media marketing for start-ups and also small businesses of any kind.

Great post. I'd like to add: 
 
 
 
This article provides some good tips for start-ups, but it is also useful for organisations that are established but new to Social Media. 
 
 
 
Edward's first point (Craft a brand position rooted in a customer benefit) applies equally well to established organisations. If you have not established a clear brand position rooted in a customer or member benefit, that's the place to start. Sometimes it can be hard to drag your messages away from 'features' and concentrate on the benefit, but without this critical step you will just confuse your audience. 
 
 
 
"Take your message and content to your consumer. Engineer your presence" 
 
 
 
You may already have a website, but does anyone visit it? What benefit do your customers or members get from your website? Your audience may be active on other services, including competing or alternative services. Join them, and contribute positively without overtly selling yourself or your benefit. You should clearly identify yourself and provide contributions that offer real benefit to your audience. In this way you will establish your value to your audience and they will seek you out. 
 
 
 
Don't treat this as a temporary tactic to get yourself noticed. Start as you mean to go on - your audience will quickly notice if you disengage and will lose interest. 
 

Thanks Dan, 
 
 
 
Great article. We use the graders and love the tools on the site. Keep it up. 
 
 
 
TM