Top Five (5) Effective Tips on Social Media Communication
Businesses everywhere know that they should have an active Social Media
presence. However, the levels of success enjoyed by businesses around
the world can vary hugely. Consequently, opinion of social media ranges
from the positive – “It is the greatest marketing tool of all-time” – to
the negative – “It is worthless.”
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but the biggest fact is that you are only going to get out of social media what you put into it. Being an effective social presence and giving your business a boost is not as difficult as you might think. Put these ideas into action, and you will see a great impact over time.
Do It!
The first thing you need to do is commit to posting on your social media feed; once a day should be the minimum, while three or four a day might be better depending on the social networks where you have a presence.
Get out of the thinking that if you do not have thousands of followers by the end of month one that it has been a failure, too. Social media success takes time; get into the habit of doing it, and most of the other stuff will follow.
Give Content the X-Factor
What you say on a social media platform needs to have some value. If you cannot add something to the conversation or provide a viewpoint, then you should not be using social media. In fact, if you cannot give an opinion based on a piece of news from your own industry, it might be worth asking yourself why you are in business at all.
Reply to Mentions
As a consumer, there is nothing more annoying than sending a business a tweet on Twitter posting a message on their Facebook wall and never receiving a reply. While larger businesses can get away with this owing to the sheer volume of inquiries there is no excuse for smaller businesses who might only be mentioned a handful of times a week.
Social media is about getting involved: ignoring the opportunity to engage with customers is a commercial and public relations disaster!
Think Before You Follow
One common practice on social media is to follow someone or like their page in return for the gesture being reciprocated. However, if you are a consumer looking for a respected source of information, are you going to engage with the business who follows a handful of influencers and has thousands of followers themselves, or one that has clearly earned their reputation from follow backs and nothing else?
Quality social media output speaks for itself. If you are worth liking or following, it will not matter how many people you have followed yourself.
Do Not Just Share
Yes, you should be sharing content as a way to build relationships as well as your own reputation. However, a social share, from your perspective, is worthless if you have not added your own opinion. Always add your own comment, if you are sharing something from an industry leader, and they like your comment, they will likely share it themselves, which will give you huge exposure to a wider audience.
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but the biggest fact is that you are only going to get out of social media what you put into it. Being an effective social presence and giving your business a boost is not as difficult as you might think. Put these ideas into action, and you will see a great impact over time.
Do It!
The first thing you need to do is commit to posting on your social media feed; once a day should be the minimum, while three or four a day might be better depending on the social networks where you have a presence.
Get out of the thinking that if you do not have thousands of followers by the end of month one that it has been a failure, too. Social media success takes time; get into the habit of doing it, and most of the other stuff will follow.
Give Content the X-Factor
What you say on a social media platform needs to have some value. If you cannot add something to the conversation or provide a viewpoint, then you should not be using social media. In fact, if you cannot give an opinion based on a piece of news from your own industry, it might be worth asking yourself why you are in business at all.
Reply to Mentions
As a consumer, there is nothing more annoying than sending a business a tweet on Twitter posting a message on their Facebook wall and never receiving a reply. While larger businesses can get away with this owing to the sheer volume of inquiries there is no excuse for smaller businesses who might only be mentioned a handful of times a week.
Social media is about getting involved: ignoring the opportunity to engage with customers is a commercial and public relations disaster!
Think Before You Follow
One common practice on social media is to follow someone or like their page in return for the gesture being reciprocated. However, if you are a consumer looking for a respected source of information, are you going to engage with the business who follows a handful of influencers and has thousands of followers themselves, or one that has clearly earned their reputation from follow backs and nothing else?
Quality social media output speaks for itself. If you are worth liking or following, it will not matter how many people you have followed yourself.
Do Not Just Share
Yes, you should be sharing content as a way to build relationships as well as your own reputation. However, a social share, from your perspective, is worthless if you have not added your own opinion. Always add your own comment, if you are sharing something from an industry leader, and they like your comment, they will likely share it themselves, which will give you huge exposure to a wider audience.
