While a handful of social media networks are leading today’s market, there are hundreds of not so well-known platforms where you might find new customers. However, clients aren’t going to find you if your brand name is scattered across networks with multiple profiles and user names. Let’s have a quick look at how you can build and consolidate your brand name on social media networks.

Sign up with the large networks

If you haven’t done it already, sign up today with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. On a Google search for your business name, odds are these pages will rank very high on the first page. For small businesses, chances are that these networks will get better rankings than their very domain name.

Get a domain and use it!

Your email and domain name should also make a difference. A top level domain is a must for even the smallest business. JohnsCarWash.ca will aid towards that professional look you are after. Leave Blogspot.com domains to old ladies selling collectibles, you can do better. Regarding email – have a look at john@johnscarwash.ca versus johnscarwash@yahoo.com. Which one looks better? It’s the little details that sometimes make the difference.

Personal accounts

Keep a low profile with your personal accounts. No, it is not all right to post pictures of yourself boozing with college buddies on your personal Facebook page. Sooner or later, some customer will run a Google search for “John from John’s Car Wash” and land on your personal profile. Unnecessary cursing, foul words and anything that might look unprofessional will put you down in the eyes of your customers.

If you really want to have such an account, make sure you switch the privacy features on and only have the “questionable” sections viewable by a close circle of people.

Maximize the value of your content

Cross-marketing your content across several networks will help you address a wider range of potential customers. At the very minimum, here’s what you should do:

• Connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts, so that your tweets get posted on your Facebook wall
• Link your LinkedIn profile to your blog. LinkedIn can read the latest news from a WordPress platform—make sure you make use of this feature!
• Add a “Tweet this” button to your blog posts to allow your visitors to quickly link to your post from Twitter. Additionally, there are lots of plugins available to make it easier for your readers to share your content. If you are using Wordpress, you could be interested in something like AddThis or ShareThis.

Conclusions

After reading this article, don’t simply jump off and start signing up to every single social network you can get your hands on. You will find that some networks are relevant to only a handful of areas. It wouldn’t make sense, for instance, to register with a shopping social network if your company provides financial advising services.

Social media is the new phenomenon of Internet marketing and yes, if used wisely, it can help your business. This article has hopefully provided you with the baby steps you need to take to build your brand across the Internet.