On Monday,  I spoke at the Postling event for small business owners. It was held at the new Brooklyn Winery in Williamsburg. The discussion was about using social media, geo-location services, blogging and having a website.   Here’s some highlights.

Facebook

Nichelle: If you have a business, then you should have Facebook.  Facebook gives you more room than twitter.  People want to know where you are and what you’re selling.

Alexis: Your Facebook fans advertise for you.  It seems less pushy when other people praise you.

Twitter

Nichelle: The great thing about twitter is that it caters to a niche (like chocolate, clothing, beer).  The focusing is on listening and sharing, more than telling.  Make your twitter name as short as possible.

John: It’s really powerful to tweet at someone who is talking about your subject, but not directly to you.  Your goal has to be looking a year out, because it’s a snowball effect.  Brooklyn Winery doesn’t advertise with twitter, we use it to find people with similar interests.  Remember not to be entirely self-promotional.

Alexis: Think of it as a 90/10 rule:  10% of content is specific about your business; 90% is conversation, related topics, neighborhood discussions

Blogging

Nichelle: Blogging helps you quickly build your brand. Small businesses have an advantage with blogging—you can really put your personality out there.  A good blogger brings you into their thoughts.  A blog is your platform.  Have a blog as part of your website.  Blog about what you’re passionate about.

John: Blogging puts content out there that allows people to find you. Often, 80% of our traffic comes from related Google searches. We blog about things related to other wineries; visitors will come from that.  You never know–in the end you may end up with content for a book.  We started our website 10 months before we opened.

Thanks Alexis and Meaghin for having me speak. It was great to meet Amy from Greene Grape Provisions, Daniel from Fine and Raw Chocolate, Hamilton from Maia Yogurt and John from Brooklyn Winery.

If you want to know more about implementing social media into your business, then check out Postling’s Social Media Boot Camp.