Use Social Media for Your Business!
Some companies, especially the smaller ones, are wary of social media and cannot figure out the right way to use it. Some business owners are outright scared of using social media, but once these business owners overcome their fear, it’s time to act. Here are the tips for companies beginning their journey in social media.
Get a Foothold: Select one social media network that you are most comfortable with or that is the most relevant to your company or products, and create an account and a public profile. While you may eventually want to create a presence on more than one social media site, you don’t need to feel out of depth right in the beginning.
Learn the Ropes: Observe how others, including your competition, are participating on the social media platform that you have chosen. Write down what seems to work and what does not, and what you like and what you do not. Take special note of how people interact. What’s the tone of the conversations? Is it a one-way conversation?
Make a Plan: What do you want to gain from your social media interactions? Think through your goals – it’s one thing to participate in social media but to do so without a plan can be frustrating and even damaging to your business. Reverse engineer a process that will accomplish what you are aiming to do.
Be a part of the Buzz: An important part of any effective media campaign is keeping track of who is talking about your company, what is being said, and how others are reacting to it. Utilising good social media monitoring tools will not only help you stay on top of this…it may even find you new business opportunities.
Be Social: Even though you are representing a business, don’t ignore the importance of the “social” aspect. And don’t think you need to be all business, all the time. Allow your interactions to retain the human side that will facilitate genuine connections. Giving a personal feel to your presence will make your business more approachable and relatable.
Respond to Society: There is nothing worse than a business attempting to be active across social media, but ignoring the general public. Once you commit to a social media marketing campaign, you should also commit to responding to questions, complaints and other input from your existing and potential customers.
Get Feedback: Ask for feedback, reviews and insight to help you reach your target more effectively. One powerful use for social media in business is as a customer service tool. Instead of waiting for a customer to air a complaint, use social media as a way to engage and interact with your audience. And be sure to thank everyone who chimes in individually.
Consistency is Key: Your profiles, comments, posts and conversations should stay true to your company’s overall mission and values. If more than one person is posting on behalf of your company, it’s vital to have a standard tone and guidelines for consistency. Once you expand your reach to more than one social media site, consistency is even more important.
Hire an Agency: Agencies can bring added scale and expertise. Social media is a commitment, and it requires manpower to interact with thousands of fans, tweets, comments, and more. Rather than leaving it completely to the interns, agencies can help provide added scale from people with expertise in the space. A good social media strategy firm would really know what they’re doing. Their accumulated resources, accounts, profiles and contacts will take campaigns to the top, to properly build company-related social media assets, and to get the buzz heading in the right direction.
Social media sites change their procedures regularly. What works today to get a front-page story on Digg or massive “retweets” on Twitter may not work tomorrow. A company who is deeply embedded, who breathes social media every day, can be a tremendous benefit. It’s normally less expensive to hire a firm to do social media marketing compared to hiring an individual or team to work exclusively for a company.
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