It doesn’t take the combined wits of Holmes, Marple and Poirot to work out that social media #socialmedia is all about being social. Yet many business owners are still making the colossal error of using it as a broadcast medium. Here are some social media tips that you need to follow to maximize your efforts.
Instead of mingling and getting in amongst their followers they are constantly in transmit mode, beaming out marketing #marketing messages or publishing articles and videos and leaving it at that.
Content #content is king on social media, but there is nothing social in hitting the send button and hoping for lots of likes and comments. Developing meaningful relationships with your followers will only happen if you behave socially.
Put it this way. At a party you see some man standing in a corner of a room. He’s talking constantly without pausing for breathe. You are hardly likely to go over to him and make his acquaintance. He’s doing nothing to develop #develop new contacts or associations or draw people to him.
Doing well in social media means engaging and listening #listening to your audience to bring them deeper into your organisation. There are plenty of opportunities #opportunities to do this.
Here’s how you can be a social animal in social media:
Be a good listener – this involves paying attention to what people are saying about you, your industry and your competitors. Respond to comments and questions with thoughtful responses.
Listening is also about monitoring social networks #socialnetworks to understand what concerns your audience. Draw up a list of keywords you want to search for in conversations. These could be to do with events, brands, products and even your competitors.
Then use social media #socialmedia monitoring tools such as Google Alerts to keep you in touch with what’s happening. This is a free service that notifies you when material containing your chosen keywords has been found.
Speak with your own voice – there is no room on social media for corporate speak and stiff and business-like language. Be warm, personable and conversational.
Be a conversation starter – you can’t expect the world to turn up at your doorstep. You will need to give people a reason to participate. So get the ball rolling by inviting opinions and asking open-ended questions.
Understand how people are using social media – this will help you to initiate conversations and develop content that your audience is looking for. For example, one of the areas that Nielsen’s 2012 Australian Online Consumer Report detailed was the weekly brand #brand engagement among users.
- Researching products/services: 33%
- Read reviews, discussions and comments about brands: 27%
- Click an FB ‘like’ button: 23%
- Watch online video about a product or service: 15%
- Discuss/add comments about a brand: 15%
- Post reviews of brands, products or services online: 9%
Find some great things to share – in the real world we love it when friends tell us about something new and interesting they’ve discovered. The same is true in the online #online world.
Make your followers happy by sharing fascinating material that you have come across. It could be an amusing picture, informative video or meaningful quote.
Join the Party
These Social media tips allow business #business owners to really get to know their consumers in ways that were unheard of a decade ago. Make the most of this communication and sharing medium by being proactive.
