The holidays, are over, now the search is on for new ways to fight that bulge and get back in shape. But what can you do to shape up your business for the new year? Expanding your social networking can rapidly improve your visibility to your perspective clients.  

 

If your business does not already have an account with Facebook or Twitter, ring in the new year by resolving to get one. These free tools are waiting to help you get your name and information circulating, so what are you waiting for, Christmas?  For an even more business minded social networking track, consider a service like LinkedIn.  (If you're local to South Florida, be sure to check out the article about Using LinkedIn For South Florida Networking on AllThingsNetworking.biz)

 

This is the year of "local" -- so be sure to use services like Facebook Places and Foursquare; Both places and Foursquare are social networking services that allow you to "check in" at businesses and share where you're at with your social networks.  If you make sales calls, be sure to check in at clients' locations: it helps promote their business (by getting their name out to your network) and also advertises what [potential] clients you are working with to your network... you never know when it might inspire someone to call you!

Since there is no cost to use them, consider trying them all. No matter what you do, it's important to post frequent updates in order to keep your business on the mind of your clients. Many people check their network type sites often to see what friends and family have been up to. What better way to have access to their free time activities than to scroll past in their news feed? The other great advantage of this type of marketing is that you get the opportunity to catch people when they are not expecting to be marketed to, so they are much more likely to react positively and think of your business as a friend. Seeing you on Facebook or a similar site is likely to cause your customers to think of your business as one that knows how to be current and trendy.

 

Looking for more marketing tips?  Follow chris_caputo and metromediaworks on twitter!