Almost every business should be doing it. Almost every business wants to do it. Not every business knows how to do it. I’m talking about social media.

Social media is no longer a buzz word, it’s not a fad. It is here to stay. When used properly by businesses, it can be a powerful, inexpensive way to reach out to your customers.

In this three part series, you will learn that by applying the 9 principles of setting up a garage sale to your social media, you will be able to set-up a strong foundation and succeed with your social media marketing.

1. Set Date & Time – In order to have a garage sale you need to pick the date and time you are going to run it. Select a date and time when you will be going live with your social media efforts. An established date and time allows you to plan accordingly and keeps you accountable for following through with your plan.

2. Who Will Work? – You can’t have a garage sale without people. Someone or a group of people need to be there to make the sale. Establish who will be responsible for your social media. Will it be one person or a group of people? If you have offices in multiple time zones, you will need a team who can interact with customers and monitor your accounts for every time zone.

3. Where’s The Place to Sell? – Before the actual garage sale, you should always take inventory of what you want to sell. Where is the best place to sell it? Will the stack of Broadway musical CDs sell best beside the toys or will it sell best beside the books?

Social media works the same way. What platforms will best suit your target audience? Decide if you should use Twitter or Facebook…or even both. Do you have videos you can create and upload to YouTube? Are you a B2B and prefer LinkedIn? Remember you do not need to be on all social media channels, just the ones your customers are using.

Stay tuned for part II on Wednesday