What does it take to learn about social media marketing?

I learnt social media marketing through hands-on experience, which is the best way possible to learn anything in any field. By actually practicing and working in the field, it resulted in high engagement and interaction; I was able to bring value to my online conversations, and overall presence. I recommend that if you’re planning to start social media marketing, you should spend time learning about trends and tools, applying them to your own business or online presence, evaluating and tracking their results and only then, start offering this as a service to others.

Very often, businesses don’t really have a strong grasp or understanding of how social media, as a new age marketing tool, can actually help their business, so an important part of your job will also be educating the client. You’ll need to be clear about how social media can impact a brand’s presence online. Like all new technology one has to update themselves in these fields constantly.

What is your business called? Where or how do you see yourself and your work in the next five years?

My blog is also a business. So I have two businesses, The Mom Writes and Social Media Direct. The Mom Writes offers content and resources for work-at-home mothers, worldwide. I’ve authored two e-Books, both of which have received a very positive response.

I also plan on introducing e-courses as well as coaching and consulting services, since am getting repeated requests for both.

For Social Media Direct, my husband and I want to focus on building our brand, via word-of-mouth references and cost-effective but high-impact services, and luckily, we’re having great success with both. 95% of our clientele is via referrals and our long-term projects are helping businesses create a strong presence easily and effectively. In the next five years, we see ourselves launching yet another business after achieving self-sustainability with both the existing businesses.

Could you give women entrepreneurs a word of advice on handling social media as a business?

Women entrepreneurs need to know the audience they’re targeting and then customize their social media efforts accordingly. Professionals are usually short on time, and spending a lot of time on social networking isn’t possible, but having a clear idea of who we want to target, as well as a well-planned social media marketing calendar, can cut that time into half.