She saw $95,000 in Business Growth Using Social Media

I don’t believe in waiting for the new year to make big changes, so this week you will be getting my first set of Online Marketing Tips from women inside the SistaSense Power Circle. Today’s tips are from Dawn Fitch, owner of natural bath and body company Pooka Pure & Simple.

In case you have been curious to know if Social Media Marketing can work for your business…

According to Dawn, “If you have a small business and you are not engaged in social media, you are missing out.” Social media helped grow her revenue by $95,000 last year, got her on the March 2012 issue of Black Enterprise, the Baisden show and opened the door to a new stream of speaking and media opportunities.

Twitter tips from Dawn that could land you on a cover!

Use hash tags. Hash tags are hyperlinked words preceded by a pound sign, making it easy for people Tweeting about that topic to find and meet each other. They are often used for events, so people in attendance (or not) can keep up with each other and with the activities surrounding the event. For example, I just returned from Indie Cruise, and we use #IndieCruise in our Tweets so we can find and ReTweet each other’s Tweets, and share photos and blog posts. If you attend an online or offline event, find out what the hast tag is and use it. You’ll meet some like-minded people, and your sphere of influence will expand.

Participate in Twitter chats. Twitter chats are online events on Twitter where a host features a guest and/or a guest topic during a specific time frame. Two popular Twitter charts are #SmallBizChat and #BlogChat (note the hash tags, see above). The conversations are always interesting and you learn something new every time. You also meet fun new people and find new friends to follow on Twitter. Note: attending Twitter chats is a nice thing to do, but it won’t increase your realm of influence on Twitter. You can only do that by participating.)

Post photos with your Tweets. People like to click things. Text Tweets are OK, but they are not shared nearly as much as Tweets with links to blog posts and especially to photos. People love clicking to see photos of everything from what you had for desert to your family vacation at the beach. Post photos to meet new people and share fun stuff.

Be a positive influence. No one likes a sour puss. Make special efforts to be positive and post positive information. If your Tweets make people smile, they generally want more of you, so be a positive influence and positive things will happen.

Update your Twitter avatar and bio. Be sure to update things as necessary so you don’t become stale. People like to see things change a bit now and then. Keep your Twitter page fresh and fun, and you’ll continuously appeal to people. Make sure your Twitter bio includes a link to your site, a link to other Twitter pages you use, and a professional description of what you do. It’s a lot to fit into a small space, but you can do it! [click here to read all 10 tips]

Dawn graced us with her Social Media know how at the SistaSense Power Circle Conference. Her session on Using Social Media to Boost Your Business was a huge hit! She shared her social media success story, essentially detailing how social media helped grow her revenue and land the cover of Black Enterprise including some recommendations on how to promote your products via your blog and online social media websites.

You can watch Dawn’s session and all the Power Circle Conference (replays here).

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