Social Media for Small Business: Choose Wisely, Then Execute

Editor's Note: Entrepreneur's Ask the Expert column seeks to answer questions about everything from starting a business to growing one. To follow the column on Twitter -- and ask a question -- use hashtag #ENTexpert, or leave a comment below. Your query may be the inspiration for a future column.
Q: What tips do you have for small and midsize businesses on a tight budget to get started using social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, along with website development and search engine optimization?
- J. Zeches
A: This is a broad list. SEO, website and social media pretty much sums up earned and owned media. However, there is a common thread among them.
No Miracles. There are no magic tools, techniques or cures. Marketing has always been hard, and the internet hasn't changed that. So when figuring out which route to choose, follow a few simple rules. First, avoid tools or services that seem too good to be true, as they probably are. Second, know your resources, and spend them wisely. Lastly, pick a strategy and stick with it.
For companies that don't have a huge budget, here's how I'd prioritize:
1. Website: No matter what your business is, your website is the central gathering place. This should be your biggest investment. To ensure the best user-experience, you should strive for your site to:

• Load in zero seconds
• Be usable on mobile devices and the desktop
• Not waste a user's clicks or time
• Never have any kind of error
• Present only unique content on each page
• Provide every visitor with a strong Return on Time Invested, or ROTI. If someone visits your site, they're making their first investment in the form of time. You must provide a return on that investment.

Obviously, you can't completely meet any or all of these six goals. But you can get as close to perfect as possible, and if you get closer to perfect than your competitors, you'll outperform them across all channels, including SEO and social media.
When you are starting out and getting your website off the ground, keep it simple.
Build your first site on a basic platform, like WordPress. Spend money on making your site easy, stable and responsive.
If you need ecommerce, look at a hosted shopping-cart service like Volusion or Shopify. Don't try to reinvent online shopping. In my career, half the ecommerce-based businesses I've seen fail did so before they launched their site. Think about that. Again, keep it simple.
Before your site is ready to go live, click everything. If you see any "not found" or other errors, like slow-loading pages (compared to other sites in your industry), lousy writing or broken layouts, get your developer to fix them. You paid for something that works, not something that kind of works.
If you accomplish those goals at launch, you've made big steps toward strong SEO and social media campaigns.
2. SEO: You should make sure your website development takes into consideration SEO. If you built a good website (taking into account the above suggestions) so that search engines can easily find and classify the unique pages on your site, I'd suggest leaving other SEO tactics alone for now. Yes, there are techniques that help but all cost a lot of money and resources.
That said, if you are looking to hire an SEO expert make sure they can explain their tactics to you in a way you understand. If they can't, do not hire them. SEO is the outcome of a lot of good things coming together, not some secret recipe. Anyone who says otherwise will do more harm than good.
3. Social media: As mentioned above, ignore any secret tricks. Don't get fooled by some charlatan hawking a $470 exclusive course on how to "dominate social media" or a similar pitch. You are better off doing it on your own.
In a perfect world, you'd be present and responsive on every social network. This isn't a perfect world. When starting out, focus on one platform. I'd begin with Facebook if you're a B2C company and targeting an audience between the ages of 25 and 55. LinkedIn is a better bet if you're a B2B company. Twitter can work for both B2C and B2B but only choose this network if you know your audience spends most of their time on it. Google+ and Pinterest also has implications for search and social.
Then, choose a time each day (morning is best) to check your social media channel. It can be 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 5 minutes. Whatever you can spare, but do it every single day -- without fail.
For small businesses, I know it's tempting to try a shotgun approach. Build the website, try SEO for a little while, move to Facebook, and when that doesn't seem to work, jump to another social media site like LinkedIn.

The Best Way to Land a Job in Social Media? Just Dive In.

Editor's Note: Entrepreneur's Ask the Expert column seeks to answer questions about everything from starting a business to growing one. To follow the column on Twitter -- and ask a question -- use hashtag #ENTexpert, or leave a comment below. Your query may be the inspiration for a future column.

Image credit: My Silent Side

Q: What's the best way to get started with a career in social media/digital advertising? Christopher Young
Elkins, W.Va.
A: Just like any industry, there are a lot of ways to get into "the business." In my opinion, the best way to break into a new industry is to dive right in. Do so by reading books and blogs, look at job postings and network by attending meetings and informational interviews. Here's how:
Must-read books
You're going to want to read. A lot. These are the books I recommend without hesitation. (I'm keeping the list short to avoid scaring anyone)

1. Ogilvy on Advertising: Do not skip this book! Famous advertising executive David Ogilvy wrote it in 1983, but the insights are timeless.
2. All Marketers Are Liars and We Are All Weird: Seth Godin is considered the modern marketing thought leader, and his books are clear and sophisticated. Start with these two titles and work your way through his library.
3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: Learn the mental and behavioral switches to throw for compelling marketing.
4. Trust Agents: I believe this book offers the best high-level view of how social media works.
5. Web Analytics 2.0: Analytics and data are required skills for any internet marketer and this book can take you from beginner to expert.
6. Anything by Edward Tufte: Data visualization will eventually make or break your ability to explain things to bosses and clients. It'll also make or break your career. Statistician Tufte presents anything and everything on the topic of data presentation. 

Read them in the order, as the books build off each other. Then, look at the authors they each cite and work through those. After 18 years in this business, I still try to read one new marketing book every two to three weeks. 
Blogs to follow
Books give you the high-level view, but blogs are a great place to learn tactics. There are a lot of marketing blogs out there, but only a few offering real value. Here are the ones I read every day:

• Scott Stratten's Unmarketing: Scott doesn't publish often, but when he does, it's well worth a read.
• The Moz blog: The company behind search engine optimization software and analytics tools has its pulse on these marketing tactics, along with pay-per-click.
• Occam's Razor: is Avinash Kaushik's blog, the author of Web Analytics 2.0. He offers examples, lessons and downloadable reports.
• Annielytics: will teach you everything you need to know about Excel and then some.
• A List Apart: gets tactical about everything from typography to project management.
• The Harvard Business Review: has given me some of my best lessons. 

Getting a job
You did your readings, have a solid foundation of marketing trends and now you are ready to find a job. This is always the hard part, isn't it? Everyone wants marketing experience, which you can't get without a marketing job, right? Wrong. We're fortunate to be in an industry where you can build experience any time you like. 
Get noticed
The best way to build an online presence is sharing your insights on a blog, Google+, Facebook, Twitter or a Tumblr page. If you feel so inclined, you can also create YouTube videos, Vine loops or upload an entire slide deck on SlideShare. Just get out there, as it will help you define yourself as an expert, while also building your network.
To do so, you should set aside an hour a day and choose a topic you love (I started writing about video games and bicycles). Brainstorm a few good articles to write, pick your favorite and begin producing content. I suggest writing for 30 minutes. 
Not every post is going to be brilliant but you should aim for publishing at least one out of three times you sit down and write. If you never publish, you're not a marketer: You're just keeping a diary. 
Once you hit publish, become active on social media. Peruse your favorite relevant thinkers on sites like Twitter and see who is following them. Follow those people. 
Also, make sure you socialize your own content. Take time to announce your latest and greatest on all pertinent social channels. Remember to engage with your audience on these networks.
Get out there
You can make connections in the industry at networking events. Honestly, it's a tough way to gain entry into an agency that might hire you, so I suggest scheduling informational interviews with team members at agencies. Most of us are more than happy to meet, tell you about what we do, what skills you need, and yes, size you up to see if we'd like to hire you. Very few agencies will turn down a smart person who can write. And worst case, you learn a great deal from someone who's got a job in marketing.
Stick with it
Persistence may be more important than anything else. If you keep reading, you will learn. If you keep writing, you will improve. Keep at it. Marketing's a great profession, because you never stop learning.

How to Handle Negative Online Reviews

Q: How should small businesses respond to negative reviews through social media and on sites like Yelp?

- Dara Khautisen 
Chicago
A: Negative social media reviews, especially those that are potentially malicious, are near the top of the list of nightmare scenarios for small business owners and entrepreneurs. But don’t panic. The last thing you want is to become the next Amy’s Baking Company, the restaurant that became famous for lashing out at customers.
As a business owner putting your heart and soul into pursuing your passion, it’s all too easy to act first in the face of negativity and have regrets later. Hold your tongue.
Before you formulate a strategy for addressing criticism, you need to determine if the comment or review is true. Investigate before taking action. Could this be a competitor spreading a rumour or something that has happened that nobody’s told you about? Once you figure out the basis of the comment, follow the below steps:

The statement is factually incorrect:  

If a statement made is untrue (not just an opinion you disagree with), you have the right to ask for the comment to be removed or retracted. While in theory that seems simple, in reality getting a comment removed can be a tricky.

It can only be successful if you are able to provide conclusive supporting evidence which shows, without a doubt, the comment is factually incorrect. If you can't provide proof, the sad truth is you won't get anywhere asking for removal.
If you do have factual evidence and the site doesn't take down the negative statement or review, you should consider correcting the post in the comments section. Lay out the conclusive facts in a professional manner and don't make it personal.

If a comment is factually true, but negative: Make sure you present your side of the story, and be honest. If you can, add a comment to the post explaining your rational in a non-hostile way and how you plan on addressing the situation.

If you sense a protracted back-and-forth could occur, it’s a good idea to try and take the conversation offline. State your willingness to receive any questions or comments through email. Make sure you, or a senior-level staff member, personally addresses the complaint.
One tactic you need to avoid is creating new “personas,” or fake accounts, to support your position in blogs, forums and message boards, as you’ll likely be caught.
Remember prevention is better than a cure. This situation can often be avoided (or at least substantially mitigated) by ensuring you are tuned into social media at all times, not just when there's an emergency. Cultivate your business’s fans to proactively share their experiences and recommendations online. Consumers are smart enough to sniff out and ignore one odd-ball negative review in a sea of positive ones.