The newest social media network that could increase traffic to your site is Pinterest. You might already be thinking “another social network?”, well so was I.

I first visited the site last year and immediately wanted an invite, the site looked slick and there were lots of “pins” that appealed to me. The beauty of the site is that registration really only takes a couple of minutes and your ready to start pinning.

Now how does that translate to your site? Easy. While browsing Pinterest for recipes, nail designs and other random subjects that interest me I noticed that the site hasn’t been inundated with a lot of content yet.

I saw a chance for me to attract more visitors to my food blog, and I am sure that there are chances for every kind of website out there. You will need to have a captivating image that can be pinned but most blogs do. I have seen my traffic increase and your could too. Happy pinning!

(my online Pinterest board)

Spend an hour over the weekend watching this Gary Vaynerchuk presentation, the Q&A is where the best info is. What is holding you back from getting online?

Online networking is the buzz, the thing all small business owners need to do, and if you are not doing it then start today. But here’s the deal, the real secret to online networking is taking it offline.

Sure online networking is a time saver but it is not a replacement for meeting people face to face. Potential customers want to like you before trusting you with their business.

Networking offline is old school and there is nothing wrong with that! Meeting in real life reinforces who you say you are, it completes the picture. You might even be surprised how different people are in real life compared to their avatar (trust me on this one)!

The social media era just makes it easier to (re)connect before and after events. Offline is where you complete the picture, that’s why it’s so important to stay true to yourself online, be transparent.

As a small business owner resources are limited and time is a restraint. Who doesn’t struggle finding time to get everything done? People often ask me where do I find the time to blog, tweet and all the rest. The truth is I don’t do it all, not all at once and not as often as I would like to, but I do try to make time to do it.

So what is the secret for small business owners? Well there is no secret, you just need to do it. If you are the person that thinks that you need someone to tweet for you, stop now, it would be a waste of time and money.

People want to know the person behind the business, they want to be able to like you, admire you, or in most cases they want to feel that they are spending their money with someone who is worthy of their business. They want to feel a connection with your business, they want the real you.

People want to know who they are dealing with, are you the person you say you are?

Potential clients, especially business-to-business clients, are weary of how they spend their money. If you are a sole trader (eenmanzaak in The Netherlands) then you ARE the business. Other business owners want a reassurance that you are the one that is going to solve their problem(s) and that you are trust worthy.

Now this doesn’t mean that everyone needs to like you, as in real life, you can’t please everyone. But if your customers are online talking about you, don’t you want to know what they are saying? Interaction is where the magic begins, you can now connect and respond online and even make an offline connection.

The beauty of social media is that it doesn’t have to cost you anything except time. If you streamline your efforts you can make social media work for you.  Set a time limit if you know that you get distracted easily. Find a platform that you like and go for it, take your business online.

image credit: flickr.com/darrentunnicliff

Red dots are locations of Flickr pictures. Blue dots are locations of Twitter tweets. White dots are locations that have been posted to both.

Don’t know anyone who tweets, think again. Eric Fisher created a brilliant Twitter and Flickr map for Europe and most of the European capitals.  The Netherlands is a ‘hot spot’ again but also you can pick out Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco. Social media is going mainstream.

image credit: Eric Fisher