7-Steps to Social Media Startup for Small Businesses

My friend Denny and I go way back. So far, in fact, that I remember him trying to teach me how to do paradiddles during our freshman year sociology class at the University of Missouri.

Apparently people call him Dennis now, but he’ll always be Denny to me.

Yes, Denny is a drummer (that’s a recent photo on the right), and it’s been no surprise to me that over the last several years he’s been teaching young kids how to be drummers, too.

The music store where Denny taught is closing shop, and Denny intends to continue his side-business from home. He reached out to me for some advice on how to market his services efficiently and inexpensively.

Here’s what I told him to do . . .

7 Steps to Social Media Startup for Small Businesses

1. Buy the domain name for your business and/or your first and last name.
2. Arrange for a year or more of hosting the website (I am fond of DreamHost).
3. Install something easy to manage, like WordPress on the site.
4. Get some YouTube videos posted of you and your students.
5. Create a Facebook page for your business and share it with all of your friends, students and former students.
6. Grab a Twitter account and include “drum lessons” and your location in the bio — make sure you’re following people in your community (find them via Tweepz.com) and interacting with them.
7. Create a schedule for yourself and post new content to your website at least once a week — drum solo videos, your thoughts on your approach to teaching, your favorite drummers (etc.)

If Denny, (ahem) Dennis, does all of this, and makes sure he’s connecting via LinkedIn and Facebook with members of his community, parents and potential students, I’m sure he’ll have dozens of future drummers beating down his door.