Multi media and business promotion

[topsi]

Hi I am going self employed and want to create some sort of presence on the net.
Have an OKish web site and managed to create a business page on facebook and join twitter.
Where do I go from here please. I am in the medical beauty profession so will probably post some pictures up.
Someone has advised me to like and comment on other peoples stuff that way you get your page onto other people's pages.
Also to do a competition to get others to liek your page and then give something away as a prize?
Am unsure of how to do all of this.

Firstly, if you're going to like and comment be prepared for it to be deleted for spamming.
Competitions are regulated by Facebook so if you are running one check facebook's guidelines or your whole FB can be deleted.

It's worth remembering that facebook 'likes' do not equate to sales, I'd be looking to introduce your brand at relevant events with a backup web presence. Facebook can be very handy for seeing what is on in your area.

Well this is a massive area and your strategy depends on your objectives, here are a few ideas.

Get a blog going that sits on your main site and feeds into your Facebook and Twitter accounts, I've used Wordpress before to do this. Blog on a regular basis to build a following.

If you've identified Social Media as an appropriate strategy to aquire new clients then you need to commit to it and update regularly with relevant content to grow your online community. In most cases you'll get away with more tweets than Facebook updates in a given timeframe. Try Hootsuite or Tweetdeck for simultaneous updates.

There's lots of other applications that you can use online to increase traffic BUT you should have a mechanism to measure the conversion rates so that you can identify if it is an effective channel to use; email list or online booking system?

Good luck with it all