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Tim Lorang Blog

Setting up your social media Marketing Plan Part 2

Posted by Timothy Lorang on Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 12:00 PM

Cincinnati TypeIn my last entry I outlined what social media platforms I would set up for a social media marketing plan. Each client will be different but I am assuming that we are starting from scratch and we need to build a base of operations, promote the site, get followers and interact with them.

Setting up the web site

Domain name, hosting and servers: If the client doesn’t have a domain name that is the first item on the list. They are not too expensive so it is a good idea to buy the domain name for .com, .net, .org and whatever seems appropriate. You may also want to get names that are similar just to keep competitors at bay.

Website/Blog: Many people will say that they can get a free blog at Google or WordPress but you really don’t have as much control as you do with your own site. Also having a business with its own site makes you seem more legitimate and solid to many customers and search engines. I would rather just upload Wordpress and start working then deal with setting up databases and servers so I prefer getting hosting services. There are a lots and lots of Internet Service Providers (ISP). Many of my clients use GoDaddy.com but I like bluehost.com

E-mail: Set up an e-mail for your domain name. You will want a generic one for information like: info@domainname.com, as well as a personal one for you and anyone you work with such as tim@domainname.com . Oftentimes when you are setting up work accounts or corresponding with others you may not seem to represent the company if you have a gmail or yahoo account. So when you get an ISP make sure e-mail is included. It is possible to get e-mail from Google with your domain name but it costs $50/year per addresses.

Tools

Google: You will want to set up a Google account and get a Gmail specifically for your company. Keep this separate from your personal Gmail account. The Google Products I set up right away are:

  • Profile if I am dealing with an individual
  • Google Places if I am dealing with a location specific business
  • Google Analytics to track the web site
  • Feedburner to create and track RSS feeds from the blog
  • Google Reader to keep track of the client’s presence on the internet
  • YouTube for their videos (more on this in the next half of this blog)

Depending upon the needs of the client I may set up other Google products such as Picasa for posting photos and images or Google Adwords for paid promotion of their web site.

Once you set up the website and blog you will use Google tools to promote and keep track of your web site. You will also need to connect all of your social media platforms with your web site. We will cover some of the basic platforms you will need in the next blog.

If you would like more information or would like a complementary social media assessment please contact us.

 

(Photo credit: DoubleM2)

Topics: Social Media, Online Marketing, Business