7 Social Media Basic Steps

2009 is the year for social media...

Do a quick search on Social Media or Social CRM, and you will see the many articles about this trend. Many companies are already in. Are you? but you do not need to be part of the social media because your competition is. You need to be part of social media because your customers are already using Web 2.0 tools to collaborate and communicate, and you need to collaborate with them too. Web 2.0 are customer channels, and many customers are not using your traditional channels to talk to your company... How do you start?

Here are 7 basic steps to consider:

1. Search about your company, brand and content. Search in communities, in Facebook, MySpace, Blogs. Use Google Alerts and Google Reader to monitor what the Internet is saying about your brand. Listen, Listen and Listen... then come up with a strategy.
2. Start with a blog. You have options such as Typepad, Blogger or Wordpress. We use Typepad, but we recommend Wordpress. Problogger should be your starting point.
3. Create a community using tools like KickApps or Ning. A good example is VerticalResponse in Ning.
4. Create outposts or channels for consumers to connect to your blog and community. You need to be using Twitter, Facebook Fan Page, Facebook Group, Flickr, WidgetBox, YouTube, Slideshare, Diigo, Digg, delicious & LinkedIn.
5. Make sure you keep track of visitors and subscribers: Add Feedburner, FeedBlitz for email, Google Analytics and Sitemeter. Look into Radian6 for more advanced social media analytics.
6. Use SEM to promote your blog and community. Use SEO to improve your organic searches.
7. Use CRM tools to keep track of interactions and transactions. Tools like Zoho, Sugar CRM, Google and Salesforce.com have functionality to integrate website to CRM. Use Salesforce.com for Sites and for Facebook to integrate your CRM with your social media channels.

These are the basics to start your social media strategy. Use these steps as a quick guide. You will need to do your homework, plan your strategy and make sure you include CRM tools in your social media plans.

A few searches in Google about social media will take you to many good places. It does not matter if you are small business or a large enterprise, 2009 is the year to do social media. Your customers are already using social media.

Need help? See our CRM 2.0 services or contact us.

To know more about Social Media and CRM in Latin America go to CRM en Latinomerica.