Social media can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you're of the old school business thinking. You're happy if you can manage your email account, but all these technologies seem a little daunting to master.
You wouldn't jump into a business without a plan, that would be crazy. Spending some real deep thought and effort coming up with a social media strategy with real measurable goals that include how you will monetize your new social media presence will definitely go a long way towards guaranteeing your social media success.
A social media study recently stated that 9% of small and medium-sized businesses are usint Twitter to market their businesses, but did you know that 50% of twitter users say that they are more likely to buy from companies that use twitter effectively?
Being good at social media says something about your company - namely it says that you know how to communicate effectively with people, and are open to suggestions from everyday people. It also builds trust and other things that go a long ways towards building your brand.
Further 32% of the businesses agreed that they're planning on using more social media marketing in the next 12 months via other social sites such as: Facebook, LinkedIn, or Myspace.
Another interesting fact of the survey is that 16% of the businesses surveyed who are under 3 years old use Twitter for promotion, compared with only 2% of companies that are older than 11 years. What this basically says is that new companies are more likely to get social media and apply it, and that if larger companies don't pick up on it -they could easily fall by the wayside and get passed by lesser known companies.
Now don't panic, social media can be an easy implementation if you plan for it. Here are a few tips and strategies for getting started with social media.
1. Start with the end in mind.
Basically you need to have a plan of attack. Don't just think that all you need to do is signup, throw up a link to your home page and they will magically show up.
This isn't field of dreams, this is real life, wake up!
I absolutely love social media, and I believe in social media - but there is a possibility in some industries that social media may not be for you. Certain segments are less likely to use social media, that's the old generations mostly - people over 70. You need to first decide if social media works for your particular demographic and customer.
Jason Falls, a social media consultant, strategist, and blogger over at SocialMediaExplorer.com recommends that bloggers familiarize themselves with social media tools, look at the target market of each of these different tools, and figure out the best ways to engage these customers.
Social media also must have a clear call to action - you want your followers to do something. Subscribe to your blog, or newsletter. Become a 'liker' on facebook. Follow you on twitter, etc.
2. Tredge slowly, with your eye on the goal.
Taking control of your social presence, and building customer loyalty doesn't happen in one night. Small steps is the recommended course for small businesses, as social media is a vehicle for building lifetime relationships, and not a way to get a 'quick' sale.
3. Be willing to Commit some time into social media.
Once your network is setup, don't be a stranger to your community that you're building. It's not necessary to hover all day on Twitter or Facebook, but checking in 2-3 a day can go a long way towards building your loyal fanbase.
The more time you can invest the more beneficial social media will be, it's also highly recommended that when possible you provide business related content on a frequent basis. More content equals higher ranking in search engines which can drive traffic back to your website and your social networking profiles.
4. Track and Monitor your Social Media Campaign.
It's always good to be able to view detailed statistics on your daily efforts. Through thorough monitoring, you can easily see trends, make adjustments, and tweak your overall marketing plan to make it more effective.
Here's a List of common social media metrics to monitor:
- How many visitors you get per day.
- How many visitors come from social media.
- How many visitors converts into a sale?
- How much money are you spending verses return on investment?
If you need a method for easily tracking your links, and clicks some URL shorteners are very good at tracking click-throughs on Twitter and other Social Networks.
Google analytics is a great tool for tracking website traffic, and many social networks also have built in analytics and insight programs. Google also has email alerts that track mentions of your business on the internet.
Monitoring your brand is so important that there are some really awesome programs that easily charge $500-600 a month just to show you what's being said about your brand. (Don't worry there's lots of free tools out there that do similar monitoring as well).
5. Plan on Being Flexible to Change.
Face it social media is a new beast, and it's always changing. Each social network has it's own conference once a year, and they always make sure to drop some bombshells on their users, sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad. The point is - the only constant in social media is constant change, and adapting. Flexibility can be a huge factor in being successful with social media.
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