So you want to market your business online through social media marketing? Don't know where to start?Well, here are some strategies to get you started, including the power of hashtags on Twitter.
(A subject I will cover again later.
) They are free and easy to apply and great for any small business or if you simply work from home to make money in your chosen industry, alongside using the best apps for iPhone.

• Instagram account for business - One of the key actions to have come out of Instagram is that small businesses across the planet are embracing this relatively new phenomena to market their business.
  Visitors engage with platforms of colour and image (as well as short videos too) and see a different side to businesses.
  It shows a very human side of a company thus proving that it's not just sell, sell sell.
  Take action on Instagram if you haven't already.
  A cool little app for your iPhone, it allows you to engage with your customers even when you're not in the office or in fact, not even at work...
  
• Facebook and Twitter - FB is still is the favourite or the world with Twitter hashtags coming up on the inside.
  The saying goes, your friends are who you talk to on FB, on Twitter, you talk to the world.
  Hashtags are a must o Twitter although they are still frowned upon on FB and Facebook marketing.
  Although people do use them, I am inclined not to as they hold no purpose in how people use FB for searching, and therefore, not the ideal way to make money for your business.
  There is a rule of three on Twitter, so if you want to use hashtags on Twitter, never use more than this.
  You don't want to be caught spamming on either site, or FB would shut your page down.
  Hashtag your keyword in the search box and see what people are saying about it.
  Join in the conversation if you can and answer questions if they have any.
  This is a free thing to do and it will get you noticed by the world.
  
• Facebook Advertising - You don't have to sign up to FB's high advert charges either, although I would make use of their ads manager as you can use this to see the demographics of your audience.
  The tools on FB allow you to see exactly how many people you could address who are on FB already.
  FB will calculate the number of people who match your 'ideal customer' criteria (so if you haven't done this, do it! It's highly valuable!) I would also recommend getting your friends to share your business page and so on.
  Join groups on FB who already have an interest in the area or the product you are marketing, and watch the discussions on these pages, and join in.
  Once people will see you as an expert, they are more likely to trust you, and therefore buy from you.
  In the next paragraph, I highlight another useful tool - Google+ and the way to benefit for all these social media platforms is to be consistent with your content and link them all together for easy posting.
  The best Apps for iPhone and Android hardware for this are free and which make this process very easy.
  I recommend Hootsuite free account to get you started.
  
• YouTube - not to be ruled out, and is growing steadily in social media marketing.
  It is used as a search engine by a growing number of people (you will also be able to link a Google+ account to this too, and has rocketed marketing success.
  Mainly for the bigger companies but small businesses are homing in on it too.
  All owned by Google of course, it is the big G word you need to impress on the net!) I would certainly consider making films about you, your team, product and give demonstrations on how to use your product or if it's a service, use the video to tell them how they will benefit from using your service.
  People need to know what the benefits are.
  

The Art of Has, Which So..

• As a mantra, always remember this...
  'Has, Which, So.
  ' In other words...
  tell your customers what you have or what your product has, then tell them what that service/product will do.
  'So'...
  tell them the benefit of them using the service/product.
  You will need to use this type of content on your website too.
  Have fun with your videos.
  Add music (free music of course - a number of sites will offer free music) and credits, also add a link to your website at the beginning and the end of the film.
  Don't make it longer than three minutes - people tend to get bored if it goes on longer than this.
  Bear this in mind with your podcasts too.
  AudioBoom for business is an excellent place to upload podcasts very easily.
  They do all the format with you and you can download the app so that you can podcast and upload on the move.
  Three minutes on this site will get you a free account.
  If you want to do podcasts an hour long, then you will need to pay.
  Around £60 for the year is still a sound investment, but first off, I am sure the free account will serve just as well.
  
• Blogging - Can't stress this enough.
  Use WordPress (loved and adored by Google) - I also advice a plugin called Squirrly SEO.
  Along with the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, it will maximise your chances to hitting the fist page in Google results.
  It is a tool that sits alongside your posts in the editing stage and will help you make the most out of using keywords that Google looks for.
  Use the Google Keyword Tool to find the keywords that your customers are likely to use to find you.
  You tap in a keyword and the plugin will tell you who is searching that word, talking about it from news items sourced instantly and from social media feeds.
  It will even give you a range of copyright free images to use, so the hard word is being done for you.
  It will also tell you as you write if your post is Google friendly and how to maximise it.
  You get the first 40 keywords free, then you need to pay after that and it's about £6-9 per month.
  An excellent investment and not breaking the bank.
  Of course with your blog, you can share it all over the place including here (!) and other sites like Empire Avenue and Tumblr.
  

REMEMBER! Google loves links and you will score highly with G if you have a lot of incoming links to your site from other sites.
The best way to do this is share your content as stated above.
Always make sure that the links are from sites who are reputable and loved by Google.
Don't simply ask people to link your site from any old where.
Google will spot you and you will lose credit with them.
Post your articles on places like E-zine - another favoured site by Google.
If you are not sure of anything, best tip? Google it first, Google your keywords and see who comes up - the first page is your competition.
There is also a plugin for WordPress for E-zine which allows you to post your article the minute you publish it on your blog.
I would use WP's plugins to the hilt.
They are brilliant and useful, especially the All In One SEO plugin, which I highly recommend and who will do all the SEO for your site.