As the social marketing specialist at OrangeSoda, I talk to a lot of people about how social networking web sites can increase the online exposure for their business.

Social media marketing works best when the company is already social – in other words, they have something to say. Social media is social, so if you don’t have time or it isn’t a priority to communicate, you won’t see the best results.

Social media is usually a long-term approach and you need to communicate constantly.  There are exceptions but the results usually take time. Search Engine Land has a great article about the many benefits you can get from social media marketing.

From the article:

The main concept behind social media networking is that users can connect and communicate with each other. Usually a successful social media networking campaign isn’t judged by the traffic sent, but by the relationships built.

Our approach at OrangeSoda comes from an SEO or reputation management perspective. I’m convinced that at a minimum companies should have profiles on major social networks. I’m not a purist that believes you must interact to be there.

Everyone belongs to groups where a core group is actively involved and the rest show up when they can. Some come and don’t talk much, they only listen. There’s room for both. But if you are showing up for the first time and you’re unknown, you’ll have to build relationships (aka network). The worst is if you show up once in a while, promote yourself, and leave. People probably won’t want to get to know you better. The same goes for online networks.

At a minimum creating a profile on a social networking web site is a great way to build links and diversify and strengthen your online reputation. You can always become more actively involved at another time.

With that, I hope you’ll look up OrangeSoda on the following sites (as you can see we’re more active on some than others):

OrangeSoda on Twitter
OrangeSoda on Facebook
OrangeSoda on LinkedIn

I was in the car last night and heard this feature about SEO.com on the radio show “Speaking on Business” by Fred Ball. I love how Fred takes complex ideas and simplifies them. He did a feature on a tech business named Cymphonix and did a great job at explaining what they do, how they got started, and the value they bring to their customers.

Since SEO.com also provides SEO services like OrangeSoda internet marketing, I thought this piece would be helpful. I can use it to explain to my parents what I do for a living. It can be useful for local businesses who want to understand what an SEO company can do for them.

Look for SEO.com under February 2009 shows and click on the audio symbol to listen in. Or you can read the transcript about the SEO.com interview (not as interesting).

I found this review about OrangeSoda today using a new tool to help you see how your local business is doing online. It’s called Get Listed. It’s quite small and targeted, basically showing your profiles are on the top 3 search engines, but it’s a start. It’s how I found this OrangeSoda review (last paragraphs) and the one below.

Here’s the review:

More calls, more business and larger orders.
I worked a few local groups to try and show up in the search engines then I got a call from OrangeSoda and decided to I needed expert help. The price was very reasonable (I don’t have a lot of money to spend but did have very high expectations for anything I was going to spend) and it’s only been a few months and I’ve had more business than ever and just hired a full time receptionist.

All my other marketing has stayed the same (I have a billboard locally and do some newspaper ads) so it has to be OrangeSoda. I’ve called in twice with questions and both times talked directly to an account person and had an answer quickly (both were needed clarifications on my part).

They’ve been great to work with and in just a few months have done more to grow my business than the 2 years previous trying to either do it myself or using the local internet expert. Last month was my best month ever and the average order size seems to be steadily going up.

I love online reviews like this that are specific, or that tell a story about an experience you had with the business.

Another new service that helps you monitor your online reputation is called MyStepRep. You can see what is being said about your business on the Internet (or any business) and choose the ones that are relevant and that you want to keep. Then you can add a widget of these results and put it on your blog or web site.

To encourage feedback on your site, consider adding a Get Satisfaction widget. It adds a tab where people can easily comment on your business, web site, or blog. They can leave suggestions too.

OrangeSoda has a tool to get your web site get into web directories efficiently. It’s called InLocal.

OrangeSoda does reputation management for a few enterprise companies. I’ve noticed most companies don’t notice or care what people have said about them online until a very bad review comes up really high in search results for their company name. When a bad review hurts business, it motivates action.

However you track your reputation online, it’s better to be proactive than reactive (and it’s cheaper).