Last Wednesday (8th Sept) I decided to set up my own business trying to help other small businesses with my experience. I’ve been doing this for a long time but a friend pointed out that I could do this and actually get paid too – who’d have thought! So Sian’s was born.
Now I don’t hang around once I’ve made up my mind to do something. By Thursday, I set up a blog page on WordPress (my friend Ali at Webmentor.ie did) and then let me loose with it. So on the Thursday night I published my first post offering my services to anyone that could use my help.
I changed my name on Twitter to @_Sians to fit in with the new business and tweeted about it. I was overwhelmed by the support I had on Twitter and the retweets getting it seen by everyone.
On Sunday I created a Facebook business page for Sian’s and let my friends and followers know on Facebook and Twitter – now also getting the Facebook business page out there too.
On Monday morning I got a call from a very nice man who had seen the blog through Twitter and asked me if I would help him with a press release. Then an email came in asking if I could help sort out some accounts. Next a DM on Twitter asking if I could do a press release ASAP. And finally an email from a friend in London who had read the blog post and wanted me to do some sales. Since then I’ve got two more jobs, one of which was via the wonderful Bloggertone Facebook page.
So this week I’ve been very busy doing things I enjoy – accounts and writing – and I’ll get paid for them too. All just from Twitter, Facebook and my blog. After one week of it live I’m getting 80 visits in one day to the blog and after 4 days I have 173 people liking myFacebook business page. I’ve also gained about 40 followers on Twitter. And all it’s cost me is my time.
I am writing this because I spoke to someone today who doesn’t believe Twitter and Facebook are any good for business so I’m worried there are lots out there who think the same. Hopefully this will help change their mind.
If your business is something people need then it’s just a matter of getting it seen. This is what I’d recommend to get your small business seen on Facebook and Twitter either for free or very cheaply:
• Get your blog page set up simply explaining what you can offer
• Match your Twitter name to your business as much as possible so it’s remembered – ensuring you have a good following on Twitter so people see your tweets
• Get a Facebook business page up and running with all the information too.
• Then ask people to recommend you to their “friends” on Facebook and tweet about it too asking for retweets. You’d be surprised at how supportive people can be
• Support people on Twitter and Facebook back of course.
It’s working for me so don’t you think it can work for you too? You’ve nothing to lose 🙂
