Today, it is apparent that marketing on
social media is a must if you want your business to grow and your brand to thrive. Companies all over the world of all shapes and sizes are using it to connect with their customers at a very personal level. Whether to promote, educate, nurture or even to demonstrate excellent support to their clients, businesses are delivering their brand with every conversation. (In some instances, these interactions are conveyed directly through a customer's watch—a brand couldn't get any closer to their audience than that.)
Here are eight tips that every marketer or business owner should consider before venturing into social media:
1 Find Your NicheSome companies thrive on Facebook, others on LinkedIn, others on Pinterest. If you know where you should make your social play, that is superb. If not, look at your competitors. Find out which of their social platforms have the most responsive audience. Look for the amount of likes, reactions, shares, retweets, and reposts. Focus on the platform that makes the most sense for your business.
Don't worry. You don't need to be on all platforms from the start. Make sure whatever platform or platforms you choose to participate in are ones you are confident that you can make a positive impression on your audience. You don't want to underdeliver and end up having your audience disengage with you.
2 Create Your Voice Develop your online “voice”. Every post you or your team may create should sound like it's coming from one voice: your brand's. A good exercise is to determine a celebrity that could speak for your brand, then write in their voice. Some companies can be fun and sassy while others have to be strictly business, whatever it is, be consistent by adhering to your definition of your brand's "voice."
Here are some examples of brand-centric social "voice":
General Electric on InstagramIntel on Twitter Think Geek on Facebook 3 Create Engaging ContentThere's plenty of material that you can post on social media, (you might not see it at the moment, but you do.) That company outing next week? Is new technology being installed in your office next month that will increase your output? Your boss’ face on a birthday cake? Post it! By sharing things about accomplishments, industry news, and funny moments in the office, you’re allowing your followers to feel like they’re a part of your community and get a sense of your company’s culture without having to explain it.
Be sure not to oversell your product or service by inundating your audience with promotional messages. You want to follow the 80-20 rule when planning your content. 80 percent of what you publish should be fun and helpful content, while the remaining 20 percent can promote your goods and services.
4 Interact with Others Being responsive is paramount! Sometimes Facebook is the first place people look to ask a question about your company, and they’re expecting a response. In fact, Facebook now displays how responsive a page is, so a user will know how likely they are to receive a response from you.
A simple like, reaction or comment on your customer’s messages can go a very long way in demonstrating an honest connection between your brand and its followers. It suggests you are attentive and care about your customers.
5 Use HashtagsHashtags are searchable topics that provide a good way for people to find your content across social media. Think of a hashtag as a TV channel where the conversation is being held.
If you are a local company and want to interact with your community, use hashtags that represent your community, town or neighborhood. If you're at an event, it's a terrific idea to find out what hashtag the event is using to promote itself. Use the hashtag yourself and then interact with all the other users at that same event by searching the hashtag on social media. Adding a hashtag for your industry is also an excellent way to connect with potential customers.
We recommend only using 1-3 hashtags in one post. Stuffing a post with too many hashtags makes you look like you are fishing for likes. For example, the hashtags we would use in conjunction with this article could be #socialmediatips, #socialmediaforbusiness, and #socialmediastrategy.
6 Respond to Negative Comments Become known for excellent customer satisfaction. When a client criticizes your company or asks questions that seem outlandish, it’s important to respond with sympathy, patience, and a genuine desire to rectify the situation. A sincere apology when things have gone wrong speaks volumes to the client, as well as onlookers who observe the interaction. A rude or unhelpful response can turn customers and prospects away and quickly lead to a bad online rating that lives on the internet FOREVER.