Why Social Media?
Some people try to use social media just for traffic, but there are many other reasons:
• It is the new form of PR.
• Builds trust with your audience.
• Very effective word of mouth marketing.
• World wide focus group.
• Creates brand awareness.
• Get answers to business problems.
• Information on your market.
• Grow your business network.
• A great tool of communication with your audience
The down side of social media:
• Bad PR may happen and will spread.
• You cannot sound like you are selling- here the conversation leads to awareness that leads to persuasion that leads to conversion
• It is a process and does not work overnight
• You can get addicted and spend too much time.
• You need to test what works.
What to Do?
1. Have a purpose, direct your efforts. Focus on your strategy
2. Be transparent, be real.
3. Lead with content and participate.
4. Bring them back to your site or blog.
5. Monitor your reputation. Use tools like TweetDeck, Google Alerts and Twitter Searches to see who is talking about your brand keywords and why. Respond appropriately. Don’t forget that this is a conversation.
6. Engage your audience. Keep them interested
7. Measure your ROI and do more of what works. Rinse and repeat always.
8. Test, test, test. Keep learning from case studies.
9. increase links and referrals.
10. Build a list
11. Be consistent, don’t keep jumping from one tool to the next.
12. Create good content with the keywords that are relevant to your business.
You won’t be able to measure your ROI the same way you would with advertising or direct mail. Social media will give ROI in aspects that are more difficult to measure like engagement, loyalty and the decision process. On the other hand, there are many tools that will help you track a lot of data. Begin by having Google Analytics install on your website. Then, spend sometime learning how to use this amazing tool.
Don’t forget, social media works as a process and you will not see results immediately. This is a key reason to be consistent, focus on the tools where your audience interacts and have a strategy before you start.