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In less than two years, social networking has transformed the way we communicate. And for businesses, it has opened up new ways to engage with customers. As the social media revolution heats up it’s time to stop experimenting and take a strategic approach to incorporating social media into your marketing plans. Do you have a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, are you on Linkedin but you’re not quite sure what to do with them, or how to measure your results?
Social Media How-to
- Start by developing a set of company descriptions and links to social media content (images, videos, articles and press releases).
- Create profiles on social media sites.
- Identify and address issues relating to your company or products.
- Stay active in relevant communities, once you start you need to carry on.
- Monitor and engage as appropriate: Offer suggestions, provide feedback and answer specific questions.
- It can also be a good idea to participate in expert forums like LinkedIn Questions & Answers.
- Create and share targeted, original content so the opinion makers and influencers can see it. Over time, you will build a valuable network you can leverage.
Here’s an overview of some of the social media tools available
You’ve heard of Twitter but why use it? Twitter helps you monitor conversations about anything that might be relevant to you and your company. You don’t even have to actively participate to monitor it.
Use case: Create structured conversations around hashtag to create a community, market under the radar, build credibility and lead source. Monitor clients, products, industry, location.
Facebook cannot be ignored. Does this mean that it becomes the primary focus of your organisation? Not necessarily, but Facebook fan pages are a great way to market to people that are not registered with Facebook, which means that fan pages are indexable. i.e. show up in search! The difference between fan pages and group pages are that with fan pages they are, for the most part, better for a long-term engagement with your fans, brand champions, and customers because the barrier for entry is low and the ability to push out information is real time and quick and easy to manage. Group pages are generally better for attracting quick attention but can be tough to sustain, though group members have the potential to become recruiters of the group site and can take it viral quick. The requirements? Some type of comfort level of the tools, bells, whistles and apps available for the administrators; as well as and this important to note: The Privacy settings. FYI read them and understand them.
Use case: Create fan page and group page sites which resulted in ongoing growing list of targeted brand champions, evangelists and new customers, as well as placeholder for announcements, offers and polling and 2-way messaging.
Personally speaking, not only should each person within yours or any organisation have a Linkedin profile, but even from a professional standpoint as well. What can you do with Linkedin? You can, in short order, join thousands of groups and associations, ask and answer questions associated with you and what your company does, create your own group or organisation, find people and groups that do what you and your company do, and link to them and research the people or company that you are getting ready to hire or work with. The requirements: A little time to set up.
Use case: Created interactive Q and A series resulting in corporate branding exposure, development of database of contacts, companies and potential partners. Create Linkedin groups which can lead to fast growth of contacts.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Create as many alerts as you want, the more specific your topic the better results you will get, use alerts to gain content ideas for your website or to discover contract notifications.
Some handy uses of Google Alerts include: monitoring a developing news story – useful for web SEO and keeping current on a competitor or industry – Useful for developing Blog content.
Use case: Save time and effort generating content for your blog, find subjects to tweet about and keep your finger on the pulse of what’s happening on the web in your industry.
Blogs
Don’t think their importance is diminishing just because of the advent of micro-blogs. They are still very relevant, very link friendly and can be integral to the success of some organisations. As well, they are not just place holders for the written word. They can now hold video, audio, podcasts, images, widgets and more. Blogging can be somewhat time intensive if the intent is to create another relevant, visible, and valuable vehicle for your message.
Use case: Create multiple corporate blogs to create 2 way conversation between customers and company, push down negative press and improve a tarnished corporate image as well as criticism stemming from negative public sentiment. Also create a blog to support product launches, latest consumer information as well as provide tips, links and resources to consumers (Just like the one you are reading now).
