Many companies seem intimidated by social media, not knowing where to start in the jungle of tweets and followers. With this blog post I will give you a rough guide of how it should be used. In the following weeks I will provide some examples of campaigns that have gone well and also not so well!
1. Be Social!
The key to social media is in the name –‘Social’.
Social media should not be used as a hard selling technique, it should be used to reach out and build new relationships or extend existing ones. Light hearted company news, tips and advice will all be of benefit for your followers. If all you post is self-promotional links and requests, you will eventually become a part of your readers “noise” and ultimately be filtered out. They may not unfollow or delete you, but they will begin to scan over your posts and tweets without even realizing it.
Imagine you’re at a networking event... People moving round the room giving the hard sell will do nothing for building relationships and often it’s off putting for most people. Instead going round the room explaining what you do and listening to what other people do will reap greater rewards.
Simply tweeting about yourself you will not be engaging your audience. Try replying to tweets, reposting tweets and messaging people. Get involved with discussions, ask for feedback – people want to know there is an actual person at the end of the tweets!
2.Focus on content, not marketing
The content that you post to social media properties should be both consistent as in regular updates, and also consistent with your overall message or objective. If you focus on good quality content that will be of value to your followers then the marketing will be done for you.
Twitter Tips Use the hash tag (#) to tweet to a particular people
Retweet useful advice
Use an actual photo for your avatar instead of company logo
You shouldn’t be digging or book marking your own content but rather writing such great content that readers give it an unsolicited dig or stumble. Your job is to write, and provide easy access to social media services where your readers can share your content with their colleagues & groups. And when they share it, the search engines will take notice. Write something great, and let the rest happen naturally!
3.Your an Expert!
If you work recruitment for example, provide quality resources for recruits. If you own an e-commerce gardening site, offer gardening tips. Whatever your message, you want to make it consistent across the web. What would be the point of somebody following you, never hearing a peep about the topic you’re an expert in!
If people feel they are getting something for free they will almost certainly come back. Being seen as an expert in your given field will not only give your clients reassurance that they have made the right choice, but will also keep you fresh in their mind for future referrals.
Done right, social media can currently grow your online business faster than any other means… There is no other type of marketing that can reach millions of people that is free of charge!
