Social media is such a useful tool for businesses, but many business owners end up doing it wrong. They try very hard to fit social media into their preconceived ideas of business marketing and end up failing miserably. The reason for this? Social media isn’t your normal marketing technique.
Traditionally, marketing was something that was presented to people. However, these days, things are far more interactive. Rather than presenting a corporate front, which no one pays much attention to, you will find that offering the people behind the business is something that far more potential customers will respond to.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself when getting started in social media as a marketing tool.
- Who do you want to talk to? Potential clients is a pretty obvious answer, but narrow it down. What are your potential clients interested in? Are they parents? Singles bringing in a six figure income? Get specific and it will be easier to find your target market online.
- What are they talking about? You won’t win any friends by jumping into conversations that you don’t understand, so check out what these people are discussing on social media sites first. Then decide if you can talk about the same things.
- What can you bring to the conversation? If you leap in and start advertising, no one will follow you. Social media is like talking to your friends at the Christmas party about what you do. You discuss other things and if they ask, you mention what you do. If they have a problem, you might offer a solution that involves your business.
- Who is going to be the face of social media? You may have more than one person in your business doing this, but the important thing is to be consistent. You want to make sure that your business is always being presented in a good way, with plenty of interaction.
- When can we mention our product? This is particularly important if you have more than one person doing the social media for your site. You want to lay basic groundrules for when you should be able to mention the product and when to avoid it.
- How can we encourage participation? Interactivity is key in social media marketing. If you want people to trust your brand, you’ll need to get them interacting with you. This will also encourage people to spread the word about your company, too.
- What is success in social media? Define what your success is before you start your social media plan. This helps keep everyone on track and will let you know when you have reached the goals you wanted to meet.
It’s important not to just jump into social media for marketing purposes without taking the time to plan. You should have a strategy in place or it will be very difficult to decide just what you’re doing. Plan ahead and you’ll rapidly meet your goals.
I was in the middle of developing our Social Media strategy. Just in time! thanks a lot
the question remains, how can we as business owners and/or marketing directors know if a social media strategy is efficient? we often have no idea and I've seen many colleagues screw up by so called “gurus”
I think your best approach is always to ask around for people you trust. Also when they give you the “I'm the best” speech, just check them out. See if they have a strong social media presence themselves.
I was in the middle of developing our Social Media strategy. Just in time! thanks a lot
the question remains, how can we as business owners and/or marketing directors know if a social media strategy is efficient? we often have no idea and I've seen many colleagues screw up by so called “gurus”
I think your best approach is always to ask around for people you trust. Also when they give you the “I'm the best” speech, just check them out. See if they have a strong social media presence themselves.