Strategically Speaking: A Blog by Denha Media Group

That’s all it really takes to get involved in social media — just a few minutes to participate on social media sites. You do not have to be on Facebook for hours at a time for your messaging to be effective. Engaging on social media not only helps with branding, but it also enhances your marketability in the industry.

There are simple ways to start using social media to promote your company and brand your business. Tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Plus, Pinterest and blogging are promotional techniques anyone can use.

According to experts, Facebook remains the most popular social media site, with 83 percent of posts being shared, and Pinterest was the fastest growing in 2012.

■ Start with one social media site and use it for at least three months regularly before you start another site. Experts list Facebook as the number-one site today. It has millions of members and will help with your website traffic if you use it correctly.

■ You’ll want to start with a “friend page” for you as an individual, and then create a business page for your business. Keep them separate. What you post on one page may not work on the other. This will help brand your business.

■ Carve out the appropriate time every week to update your social media tools. You need only about 15 minutes a day to post on social media and engage others on the sites.

■ Write messages that will promote your business, services or products in an engaging way that offers people useful information. Perhaps you can give them tips or ideas.

■ Use social media tools to drive people to your website by writing blogs on your site and teasing the blogs by using a quick sound bite or quote like statement with a link to your site on Facebook or with Twitter.

■ Use visuals appropriately to tell your story. People love photos. If you are going to post something about a product or service, upload a picture to go with the message.

■ Build your network of friends that will positively affect your business by liking and commenting on other people’s posts. This will engage the friends of your friends and perhaps get them interested in your business.

■ When you are at an event, tweet about it and find out what the # (hash) tag is so you can participate in the conversation everyone is in.

■ Monitor what others are doing on social media sites and see what seems to work and what doesn’t.

Vanessa Denha Garmo is founder of Denha Media Group