Social Media For Small Business: When I was a kid, I couldn’t have imagined that computers would take off the way they did! Nor would I have every guessed there would be something called the world wide web where you could communicate with the entire world at the touch of your finger tips. I mean how crazy is that!!! Well thank goodness it did because now that I’m in my forties and running my own business, I know for a fact that if computers and the Internet never took off my business would be nonexistent. The new trend in today’s world is now Social Media. This means that most people have at least one if not several Social Media accounts such as Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. These Social Media sites make it so much easier to communicate with family, friends, and business associates. Many people have even started doing 80% of their shopping online as well. As a small business owner, I knew that if I wanted to stay on top and continue to be the leader in my industry, I was going to have to up my game so to speak. This meant doing my research on how to improve and adapt to the rapidly changing business world with Social Media. I needed to show that my business is not stuck in a single mindset or afraid of change. We at Lighthouse Man welcomed this challenge of moving forward into the realm of Social Media to make sure our products are recognized as better than our competitors. The first step in thinking outside the box and moving to incorporate Social Media was to make needed changes to our already established website. So I hired a Designer/Specialist to help design and create a entirely brand new high end fully automated WordPress website. Our site is also fully mobile friendly. As we all know today’s customers spend so much time on their cell phones. Also, because of today’s full line of technology we made our website fully responsive which means that it will adjust and fit to the screen size of cell phones, tablets, iPads, laptops, and desktops. We realize that very few people actually use a full screen desktop computer anymore because they can take the technology with them in their pockets. To show off our beautiful lighthouses and nautical décor we added: A) High end HD videos featuring our products B) Picture and Video Slide Shows, C) Picture Galleries D) Light Box that offers larger pictures at the click of a mouse. We also made sure our site features well-written and detailed content describing our products. More or lesslighthouseman.comis a high end web site that has it all. Now we can keep up with the changing times and display our products clearly, affectively, & efficiently to our customers. Once we upgraded the website, I started researching the Social Media aspect for this endeavor. Social Media for business in a nut shell is designed to get your website traffic or noticed in more places by more people. Therefore creating more traffic to your website and increasing your PR or (Page Rank). This reflects how popular you are in your industry. I more or less think of this entire Social Media thing as a big popularity contest. Seriously, the more popular you become on the web in your realm the higher Google will rate you. Thus to stay on top you have to be liked and shared by more people than your competitors. This means that the more quality Social Media sites you are affiliated with, the better off you will be. Now here a list of Social Media sites that we here at the Lighthouse Man belong to and focus on: 1) Facebook: This is a great all around Social Media giant site for sharing information, photos, and links with family, friends, and colleagues. We use this site for many options. We promote new items here or we run sales etc just for our Facebook friends and customers. 2) Google Plus: In my opinion this is the upcoming gem of Social Media and will eventually surpass Facebook, especially since it is owned by Google. Like anything else Google does they do it bigger and better. We use Google plus for a little bit of everything. From sharing information, to posting photos and videos, to answering questions or comments, or simply posting sales etc. 3) You Tube: Now owned by Google, this site is excellent for dispersing videos to the public. We use this site specifically for our high end HD videos, promoting new products, and promotional videos. Lighthouse Man is constantly producing new product videos to promote our brand. 4) Twitter: Very popular and easy to use site. This is a great site to send quick messages about new products or promotional items. 5) LinkedIn: This site is designed specifically for use with businesses. Great site for finding employees, vendors, customers, and keeping up to date on the latest news in your business or industry. We use it as a means to connect with other professionals. Tumblr: This site is actually geared toward Microblogs. We use this site for micro blogging our short video clips or images. This is a very fast paced site and is very user friendly and easy to use. Instagram: This site is another fast paced site that allows users to view content quickly and make comments very easily. This is a big site especially for our younger generation who are going non-stop between home and School or home to work. This site is also a great asset because it can link your business to other Social Media sites. Great for sharing pictures and inviting friends to comment . Pinterest: This site is a catch all site for those of us with a vast array of interests. Pinterest has exploded on the Social Media scene over the last several years with the women and DIY crowd. This site allows you to share ideas, recipes, before and after pictures of yourself or projects, and of course the finished product. very popular because it allows others to pin, save, or duplicate the concepts posted. Reddit: This site is actually similar to an online bulletin board. It is a news website, social networking website, and an entertainment website that allows registered community members to submit content to be viewed by other registered community members. The content can include direct links to other sites and text posts. We use this for promotional information and links to specific items on our webpage. Vimeo: This site is a video sharing website. We use this site specifically for our high end HD videos, promoting new products, and promotional videos. Lighthouse Man is constantly producing new product videos to promote our brand. Yelp: This website focuses again on the business leaders. Yelp offers crowd-sourced reviews of local businesses to help get your product and webpage recognized. The company trains small businesses on how to respond to reviews, hosts social events for reviewers and provides much needed data about the businesses. The Lighthouse Man has jumped in with both feet and eyes wide open to the new age of Social Media and business. Come see what we have to offer at lighthouseman.com and share it with as many family, friends, and colleagues as you can think of. Help us continue to be the number one manufacturer of custom crafted lawn lighthouses and anything nautical you can imagine!
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