If you could get your products, services and promotions in front of a wider audience for free, you would jump at the opportunity, so why aren’t you making the most of Social Media?
People are already talking about brands, purchases they’ve made and experiences they’ve had online. If your business doesn’t have profiles, pages and content for them to engage with then you simply aren’t part of the conversation. If that doesn’t make you nervous, then it should!
Customers ask for and give recommendations (as well as warnings!) on Social Media – whether the business in question is present on that network or not. Most types of business will benefit from getting involved in the most popular networks – here are some ideas:
- Happy customers? Everyone has some, some have lots. Give them a platform to share their joy, and reward them when they do.
- Complaints Turn a negative into a positive – if you can show the world how well you deal with negative customer experiences, you’ll win new customers over.
- Photos & Videos Publish your own visual content, and encourage customers to share their pictures and videos on your page or profile.
- Competitions Social Media provides an easy place for people to enter competitions, and they can easily share the details with all their friends, giving your content even further reach.
By all means choose your favourite platform, or better still those your customers are active in – each network has its own habits and protocols.
On a company Facebook page, for example, research has shown that a post a day is best for optimum engagement – more often is likely to switch people off.
For Twitter, the opposite is true: post as many updates as you like. A combination of sharing, retweeting and original posts is the best mix. Keep your tweets on-topic, make sure you observe etiquette by thanking and crediting people where appropriate and you’ll build a following soon enough.
One thing to note: If you’re going to repeat tweets, leave a decent amount of time between reposting – nobody wants to feel like it’s Groundhog Day!
LinkedIn is based on a business audience, so put your professional face on and act accordingly – communication tends to be that little bit more formal here. Also, make sure you take the time to introduce yourself and engage with people in the groups you join before requesting favours or broadcasting your own agenda.
In a nutshell, treat Social Media like you would a conversation with someone – listen to them, ask them questions and be polite! Observing what others do on any given network will help you to discover what is acceptable. Good luck!
Let us know what else you’ve successfully used Social Media for in your business!
28 August 2014 09:36