Social Media is a Conversation in West Orange

Dan Beldowicz, vice president of business development at Single Throw Internet Marketing in Wall, knows social media. The guru spoke to more than two dozen people at the West Orange Public Library Thursday evening on the topic of how to use popular networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to help improve business.

His top suggestions:

• The center of your marketing universe is your website. Use the other social media outlets to point people to your website. It is your 24-hour store.
• If you do not come up on the first page of Google, you do not exist. Having profiles on the various social media sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Digg, will raise your profile on Google. Use automation to keep these sites updated.
• Think like a customer, not a competitor. You do not know if what they are doing is working for them.
• The "lost" book on social media was written in 1936 called "How to win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. Some of the key points: attracting attention, friends and followers; getting people to know, like and trust you; how to influence and persuade people; getting recommendation, referrals and introductions.
• First impressions are important. You want someone who is smiling to be your face on these media sites. It helps people trust you.
• Social media is a conversation. It is used to communicate with your audience. You want to provide value to your readers. A percentage of people who visit your site will buy from you. If they interact with you, that percentages leaps.
• Change is automatic, constant and inevitable. Things that have worked in the past may not work for you now. You must work at change. You can't do the same thing again and again and expect something different.
• If you are not on all the various sites, start with one and stick with it until you have it under control. If you try to do too many at once, you will fail.