1.Connect with people – real people – your target market…
You’ve made the decision to join the world of Facebook and/or Twitter and have created your page/account. Now what? DON’T wait for people to find you (it’s not going to happen). DO spend time to source and connect with real people and businesses that are relevant to your plan and DO become social. The key to a successful page is connecting and opening a real dialogue with your target market, enticing your customers and potential customers, showing them who you are and what you are. Giving them information and drip feeding them to remind people you are there… the best thing of all is to interact with them. Social media is called ‘social’ media for a reason! We have a strong rule here at our Marketing HQ, NO buying your followers or likes! This cheapens your brand, becomes really impersonal and you will inevitably end up with a high percentage of time wasters, who are neither interested in your brand nor likely to turn into a sale.
Extra Tip – Don’t be a robot - Interact and show your human side, it’s not all about tweeting and posting constant sales adverts! #buildrelationships
2. Let the world know about your expertise, be a thought-leader
Well done, you have now put yourself in the spotlight! Take advantage and stand out from the crowd, be creative and let people know about what you know, give them something interesting to ‘like’ or ‘retweet’ – maybe something that they didn’t know, or reinforces what they do. You want people to share your content, interested to hear more from you but most importantly you want them to think about what you can do for them! Give your point of view, opinion and ideas. It all helps.
3. Be ‘Social’ with real-time dialogue
It’s very tempting to set up a system for posting on your behalf, set up your scheduled tweets (and now Facebook) and leave it. We can appreciate why this is tempting but be warned this is very dangerous. There is too much scope for things to go wrong. Social media (and don’t forget the ‘social’ element) needs monitoring. People like to interact and also like to be replied to. How often have you left a message for someone and they don’t get back to you, it’s extremely frustrating. Scheduling is okay for temporary use (eg you are going to be out the office but need an offer, promotion update to go out etc), as long as you don’t just leave it and you are there to answer and interact when needed.
Hello???? Anyone there???
4. Have an agenda – Interesting content – tips, images, links
Now this is a simple and effective marketing strategy to implement into your Social Media. You should manage your social media and not let your social media manage you. Have an aim! I like my followers to be advocates for me (I also have an audience for any help I may need) what do you want? What return on your investment do you want to see? You do need to spend time nurturing relationships and conversing with your clients, but you need to do it in an effective way. To help you get the best out of your social media, set yourself an agenda and maximise your posts’ reach with interesting content.
5. Keep up to date with the platforms rules and changes
Whichever social media platform/s you use (we know there are a few to choose from), things never stay the same, the layout, functionality and rules are constantly changing and it’s important to keep up to date and adapt to these changes to stay ahead of the game, or employ someone, a professional to look after it all for you. A badly run page can be just as damaging to your brand as much as a well managed page can be effective to your brand.
p.s. My next blog will be on competition rules on Facebook and also other rules breaks and how to avoid them. Keep tuned!
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E:emma@blondemarketing.com
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Apologies for delay in replying (just seen this). Thank you for your kind words and I’m glad you have enjoyed reading my posts.