It’s no secret that businesses today need an online presence. I was watching the movie, “You’ve Got Mail” the other day and I couldn’t believe how far the Internet has come in such a short period of time.
However, it’s not enough now to just have a website. Businesses are branching out into social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
I’m not a social media guru, but my blog this week is about the small steps stone businesses can take to get into the world of social media.
Before I started our Facebook and Twitter accounts, my first thought was: “What will I write about on a daily basis?”
I knew that if I opened these accounts, I would need to commit to updating them at least once a day, otherwise people would lose interest.
My next question was, “Who is my audience?” That question was pretty tough because it is hard to say who in our industry actually looks at our social media pages. I made the decision that I wanted to appeal to all of our usual customers. That meant that I needed to write updates and posts directed to our commercial customers and residential customers.
I started by just posting about what stone restoration projects we were working on; then I started taking pictures of those projects and sharing them on Facebook and Twitter.
The other part of our business is product sales, so I began to highlight certain products that we sell. Not only do I mention products, like Crystal Clean that help the everyday homeowners clean a granite countertop, but also products like Ver Glow #2 that commercial services use to maintain a marble lobby floor.
I most recently started my blog, “Written in Stone.” I love being a blogger because it allows me to write about all aspects of our business. I write blog posts about the technical side of stone restoration, as well as posts that just give practical advice on how to protect stone surfaces during the holidays.
If you follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook or read my blog posts, you’ll get advice, see incredible before and after photos, and learn about the best products to restore and maintain natural stone.
It’s just one more way for me to reach out to our customers and to other businesses in the stone industry.
My next social media adventure? I am taking on my first Tweet chat session in mid March to promote our lecture “The Essentials of Stone Restoration” at Coverings. (Our Coverings class will take place May 1st at 9:15 a.m. in Las Vegas.) I will be tweeting on our @IntlStoneworks account questions and answers that constantly come up on the stone restoration field. I will make updates as to what day and time we will be holding the Tweet chat. Stay tuned!
