Marketing with social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are becoming more commonplace for businesses looking to promote their product or service.  A recent "how to" social media workshop introduced a number of new business owners to this inexpensive marketing technique that has many opportunities to create a loyal community of would-be customers.

To some business owners, Facebook and Twitter may seem like a lot of work.  Even just setting up your pages can be an arduas task for some, but there are plenty of good how to videos on YouTube that can help with this.  Contacting your local community college or highschool in another good option, as many students are experienced in set up Facebook or Twitter accounts, and their rates for the set-up are usually very affordable.

Once your accounts are set up, it is necessay to begin posting and tweeting on a regular basis. Applications such as HootSuite and TweetDeck make this much easier, as you can plan and schedule your posts well in advance. This leaves you with more time for daily interactions with your followers.  You can also sync your Facebook and Twitter accounts, so that one message is posted on both social media outlets.  

Stressed at the workshp was that it's important to not just post or tweet on a regular basis, but to engage your friends and followers to build relationships, creating both tangible and intangible benefits that will lead to sales down the road.

The workshop offered links to additional reading on social media that give hints and tips on how to effectively use social media.  They're included below:

Social media: seeking proof of payoff
You have eight seconds to hook a consumer
How to launch any product using social media
Social media in 4 steps:  Step 1
Social media in 4 steps:  Step 2