Obviously, jumping on social media sounds like the easiest way to build an online reputation. Yes, jumping on social media will help, but actually thinking out how you will use a social media platform for your business should be your first step. Taking the time to understand how to exactly use Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of them for business will increase your chances of better branding yourself online.
Each social medium differs in strengths and weaknesses, and in content orientation. Asking the right questions and considering what your business’s goals on social media will prepare you for a social media marketing (SMM) campaign. Ask yourself:
- Who is the target market?
- What are your customers doing?
- How do your customers use social media?
- How do you want to engage with customers and keep them involved?
Creating a Facebook Page or Twitter Handle is Not Enough
Yes, you can post or tweet something every once in a while, but that’s not going to cut it. Occasionally sharing an article or a picture of something cool will not give you an active, attentive following, or more leads and sales. Two critical factors to consider when using social media are time and patience. Social media engagement should be focused on forming long-term and loyal relationships. Easily summed up—you get what you give. You must be involved and committed for social media success.
Consider These Four Guidelines to Become Social and Successful:
- Planning Out Content
After brainstorming your goals and answering the questions mentioned before, define your keywords. Make sure you spend time to research your own company, understand exactly what your business services are and formulate content around that material.
- Checking Out Competition
Don’t be ashamed to check out the competition, especially if they are marketing themselves well. DO NOT COPY their techniques, but learn from your competition and improve! Think like your customer—what would you want out of your business? Provide useful videos, images, statistics and other media-rich content.
- Branding Yourself
Remember to not only keep your brand image similar through all social media platforms, but share content with a single voice. Avoid split personalities! Remember, each social media platform has its own vibe, but you need to keep your identity similar and cater to the different social platforms.
- Link Often
When generating your own content, don’t forget to link back to your own webpages. Link to outside, related content as well—it shows you are active in the industry and community. This involvement with add to your business’s reliability.
Although you may be ready to jump onto social media, remember; it’s tough for a business to be amazing on every social media network. Focus on what is the best fit for your business. For a more in depth understanding of each social media platform and how to cater it your business, check out 4 Site Digital’s Know Your Platform page.
