The Big Four are:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

I also recommend to my clients there is no need being on 30 social media sites and not spending any time on them.  Pick a couple and work them through.  If you can manage them, you can then add more later if needed.  So what is the difference between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & LinkedIn? Which one should you be on?

Facebook

My favourite and the original.  Started by a college student as a way to connect with students, Facebook now has over 500 millions users.  50% of these users log on daily for an average of 55 minutes.  Facebook’s style is relaxed, fun and like a party.  Users are of all ages with the majority between 25 – 45.  The largest growing demographic on Facebook is 55 plus.  Some users are business owners whist others are employees, mums and retirees.  Users have the choice of personal profiles, business pages and groups.

Twitter

Twitter is a micro blogging site where users express themselves in 140 characters (similar to an SMS on a mobile phone).  Users can be individuals, businesses and celebrities.  Users follow you to gain access to your Tweets (information you share).  Most of the users with large followings are celebrities.  It’s style is similar to Facebook – fun and relaxed.  Your Facebook and Twitter accounts can be integrated together saving you time.

YouTube

YouTube is a video sharing website where you can upload videos.  When uploading videos you can also add descriptions and tags that are used for search engines to find them.  The best videos are the ones that go viral (spread organically through recommendations).  Theses are fun and interesting videos.  YouTube videos are now coming up on the front page of Google so make sure you add a link to your website in the description.  YouTube has a mix of fun, interesting, professional, corporate and how to videos.  Ideally all businesses can take advantage of videos.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is know for the professional, business based users.  All users are either business owners, in the corporate world or have corporate clients.  If you think of Facebook as a fun party where LinkedIn is a party where your managing director is present.  So it’s more formal and business based, less personal updates and more business focused.  On Facebook and Twitter people will share what they had for breakfast whilst on LinkedIn they are discussing business challenges and the economic climate.  It’s not my favourite but it really depends on your business and it may be the best platform for you and your business.

If you aren’t sure about which category you should focus on contact us for a Social Media Strategy Session – available in person, over the phone or via Skype.

Here are the steps you need to create your own Twitter Account.

1. Go to Twitter

2. Click on “Get Started Now”

3. You will now see the Twitter sign up form which looks like the picture below

4. In this form you need to enter your:

• Full Name – this is viewable to public searches on the internet
• Username – this is the name which forms part of your Twitter url ie. www.twitter.com/smforyourbiz.  Twitter will automatically check if your username is available while you type it in.
• Password
• Email – only one email address per account
• Agree to the terms and conditions and click on “Create My Account”

5. Success – your Twitter account is now created

6. But wait there is one more step – you need to confirm your account.  Twitter will send you an email, click on the link and your done.

You can now start Tweeting away. Enjoy.

Enjoy the video

Once you have created your own YouTube account you can upload your own videos.  Make sure you have your username and password read for your Google Account and that you know where your videos are located on your computer.

If you have all that ready, follows these steps up to upload your first video to YouTube.

1. Go to YouTube

2. Sign into your account.

3. Click on Upload which is located in the top bar near the centre

4. Click on Upload Video Again – the yellow button.

You can also record straight from a web cam, however I wouldn’t recommend this.

5. Located the video from your computer and click upload.

6. Whilst this is uploading enter the details about the video – including Title, Description, Category.  Make sure you include a link to your website.

You can choose to make your video:

Public – everyone can see it

Private – only selected YouTube Users can see it

Unlisted – only people with a link you provide them can see it. This link will automatically be provided by YouTube.

7. Click Save.

8. Your Video is now uploaded and you can embedded it in your website if you wish.

1. Go to www.youtube.com

2. On the top right corner – click on “Create Account”

3. Complete the form including: username, location, date of birth, gender and then click “I Accept”

4. You then need to login using a Google Account – if you don’t have one you can also create one here.

You can only link one Google Account to one YouTube Channel – so you will need to create another one if you want to open more than one YouTube Account.

After you create an account you will be asked to verify your email address and then your account is created.

What is a blog? was asked by Roxanne Caukill of BNI Brisbane South, after I asked my customers their most burning social media questions.  So Roxanne for you, here is the video to explain “What is a blog?”

Once on your Facebook Fan Page
1. Click on “Edit this Page” which is located under the profile picture
2. Go down to the application section and find notes
3. Click on “Edit”
4. This brings up your notes page and on the right panel is “Note Settings”. Select “Import a blog”
5. Enter either your blog URL or your RSS URL ie http://feeds.feedburner.com/Socialmediaforyourbizcom or socialmediaforyourbiz.com
6. Click that you have the authority to do this
7. Select “Start Importing”
8. This brings up your recent posts
9. If this is correct click on “Continue Import” from the top right.
10. Facebook will now check your blog every few hours and import the blogs. They will be shown on your Fans New Feeds and on your Facebook Fan Page Wall.

Generally the discussion board is already part of your Facebook Fan Page when you create it, however if it’s not, this is how you add it.

1. Using the search box at the top of Facebook, type in “discussion boards” In this list this should bring up “discussion boards app” Click on this.
2. You will be taken to the Discussion Board Fan Page.
3. Under their profile photo is a link “add to my page”
4. This will bring up a list of your pages.
5. Select which pages you want to add the discussion board on
6. Click on “add to page”
7. Navigate back to your page and the discussion board should be part of your page.

All my pages already have the discussion board, so I couldn’t test this correctly. Please let me know your feedback on if this works for you.

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
2. You are creating an “Official” page, so select if it’s a business (most people reading this blog), brand or product, public figure.

3. When you select this option, it brings up drop down box. From this box select your type of business. If you can’t find your business type – select professional service.

4. Now give the page a name – generally your business name ie Brilliant Web Design or Social Media For Your Biz
5. You then have select that you have the authority to create a page on behalf of this business.
6. Select the button “Create Official Page”
7. You have now created your Facebook Fan Page
8. You page looks like this:

There will be more postings coming soon on editing your page and making it search engine friendly, but the basics are:

Changing Your Profile Picture
1. Roll the mouse over the question mark – then click on “edit picture”. From here you can upload your new photo

Adding Your Info
1. Click on the Info tab and select “edit information” from the right and input your business details

Description
1. Under your profile picture is a small box with text that said “Write something about Your Page Name” click in this box and write a description. Remember this is one of the first things people look at – make it meaningful.

Post your new Facebook Fan Pages below.

Many business owners don’t think of using Social Media sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for increasing their search engines rankings however, often using these sites can not only be a quicker way to increase your rankings but often more cost effective and can return better results. If you think, all websites are trying to compete in the traditional Google rankings, why not stand out and compete in a market which isn’t as crowded and as the potential to return higher results quicker. With 20 mins, and a little knowledge you can create your own YouTube account and upload your first video and already be on your way to increased rankings.

Google search results now include Twitter and YouTube Video (often on the front page). Why not use these medias to increase your rankings?

This blog post was prompted by an article I saw on The Age – My Small Business Blog – How to impress the number-two search engine (and it’s not Yahoo!).

David Wilson, the author, gives you 6 steps on how to use YouTube to increase your rankings.

Let me know what you think of the article. I would also be interested to know, how you are using YouTube in your business and what results you are receiving.  Please leave a comment below.