I read a great article this week entitled “Eight Ways to Ruin Your Social-Media Strategy” by Catherine Taylor on bNet, and of all the ideas she writes about, I think this is the most important take-away point:

“It all begins with listening…Just as you wouldn’t walk into a cocktail party and start bragging about yourself, you shouldn’t just jump into the conversation.”

I see many small businesses like studios that treat their Facebook or Twitter accounts like little mini-billboards. “Call today for holiday photos” or “mention this ad for a free 8×10 print.”

Social media isn’t supposed to be about you. It is about your relationship with your customer.

Don’t believe me? Download this free report (PDF) at Rainmaker.com. They interviewed hundreds of people after sales presentations and the #1 reason people gave for not buying was…not listening.

Here’s the new rule: you need to make at least five comments or blogs or posts or tweets that are personal or thought-provoking for every one that is an ad.

For example, how about posting one of these your Facebook page tomorrow:

• What’s your worst experience with a professional photographer?
• Which of these two senior yearbook photos do you like better?
• Did you ever take a photo you thought was as good as a professional photographer?

The point is to start a conversation with your customers. That’s what social media is about. If you’re treating it like a cheap way to advertise, you’re not just wasting your time with social media - you may actually be hurting your business.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series on using social networking to promote your business. Read part 1 here.

Getting Started - The presenters all made the same point: the only way to get started in social networking is to jump in. If you haven’t already, start with a Facebook business account. If you already have a personal account, read these instructions.

If you are looking to update your website, a blog is a good way to get started with social networking (you are reading a blog). Use it as a “portal” for your entire website: portfolios, services offered, prices, and contact information combined with links to your RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook accounts. After researching many types of blog software, I can recommend Wordpress.

Takeaway Points - As I sat through several presentations, I wrote down some common ideas that every presenter emphasized:

• Think “build community”, not “communicate with.”
• Social networking requires your most passionate people. It won’t work if you just give it to an employee as one more task to be completed on a daily basis.
• Avoid the “if you build it they will come” syndrome. Setting up a Facebook page is only the smallest first step. Plan to work with it every day or at least every other day for several months before you see real results.
• Measurement is hard. The number of “clicks” or “friends” or “eyeballs” you receive will not necessarily translate into sales. Instead, you have to trust that as social networking grows, the businesses that are part of it will grow too.
• People support organizations or businesses they love. The strength of social networking is that it allows you to develop these relationships.
• The technology is easy. The human empathy, passion, and commitment is hard.

This week I attended a conference on Using Social Networking to promote businesses, and of course, I kept trying to think of ways it could benefit professional photographers. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest internet buzzwords, social networking refers to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, instant messaging and chat.

While social media is simple to use and free to implement, it will cost you time and diligence in order to make it work to promote your business.

When you think about ways to promote your business using the Internet, you usually think of websites and e-mail. While these are important, they are designed to “communicate with” a customer. You might tell a customer about your services or about a sale, for example.

In the last few years, marketers have discovered that people don’t want to use the Internet just to get information – they want to use it to make 2-way or social connections too. Instead of “communicating with” a customer, businesses use social networking to “build a community” with their customers.

Let me give you an example. A local pub in Flint advertised their St Patrick’s Day specials, then asked their friends “who is coming over after work?” Several dozen people I knew answered online. When I asked them why they went to that particular pub, they said it was because they saw on Facebook that all their friends planned to be there too.

Let me give you another example. Bob Fish, co-founder of Biggby Coffee in Michigan, uses social networking like Facebook and Twitter to let his customers know when he’s going to be visiting one of the over 100 franchises. If you meet Bob at a Biggby Coffee shop, he will buy you a free cup of coffee. This virtually free social networking is considered a critical part of Biggby Coffee’s success according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

Next week I’ll give you some specific steps that you can do to implement social networking as part of your marketing.