1. Go to where your customers are.
Your customers are already discussing your industry on social
networks. Just do a few Google, Facebook, or Twitter searches on
your name or industry keywords to find out where the hot websites
are. Focus your effort and time where the chatter is the
hottest.
2. Build one-on-one relationships.
Social media is connecting with individual users, not one-way
messaging to the masses. Marketing your brand will include
conversations, answering questions, sharing information, giving
honest feedback and reaching out to potential advocates.
3. Be a person, not a company.
Social media is not about communicating behind a nameless,
faceless logo. People want to know who they're interacting with,
that there's a real person behind the wheel, flaws and all. If you
are afraid to take this step, social marketing will be drastically
reduced in effectiveness.
4. Produce quality content.
Social media marketing
will require a constant flow of information from you. It can
include industry news, how-to videos, new product previews or
reviews, coupons or offers, podcasts, tweets from conferences, and
anything else that will keep your target audience interested.
Putting out mundane or self-focused information is a way to lose
followers. If content is overwhelming for you, as it is for so many
businesses, consider hiring a social media marketing company like Chicago's Our
Marketing Works to produce content for you. Then, you only have
to give approval and it can go out to the masses!
5. Keep it current.
Though blog posts, videos, and other forms of content can have a
long shelf life, social media marketing is about right now. What
are the issues facing your industry? What can we comment upon and
answer questions about? The more in-the-moment you can engage, the
higher your visibility will be. And that visibility/awareness is
the reason you are doing social media marketing - a key free way to
market, requiring only your time.
6. Understand the time commitment.
All of this content production and one-on-one engagement will
require a lot of time and commitment. Don't bite off more than you
can chew. An untended social media effort feels half-baked to users
and is almost worse than having none at all. So focus on key social
media websites that are the best fit for your industry, and use a
social media consultant for information on ways to tie your efforts
together. For instance, there are ways that you can write a blog
post and have it instantly post on your Facebook and Twitter pages
as well as your RSS feed.
7. Have a specific social media plan.
You can't take on the world and every social media avenue. To
keep your schedule and expectations under control, consider the
following questions and come up with a solid plan. How much time
will they commit to social media marketing? How often will they
interact within each community or channel? What will it take to
generate new content? Set objectives, develop action plans, and
track milestones for measuring progress.
8. "Listen" to chatter about your company.
There are easy ways to monitor what people are saying about you
and your industry on the web. Our Marketing Works can set you up
with daily or weekly alerts so you can instantly react to hot
topics. This also provides fodder for posts of your own. Give your
take on the latest industry news, etc.
9. Measure your efforts.
All good social media plans can be measured. From day one, your
social media firm should
help you install tracking stat packages and point out areas on each
social network that show interest in what you are saying. Then, if
success lags, you can revisit your goals or reconsider your time
commitment and strategy. Are you on the right social networks? Are
you giving quality information?
10. Learn and adjust.
Be prepared to adapt your action plan to the results you're
getting. And don't think of poor results as failure because with
social media marketing. New social networks are popping up every
day, and others are going out of style. Keep up on what is
happening, or find a social media agency like Our
Marketing Works to keep up for you.