Burson-Marsteller recently released the results of a survey they conducted to determine where companies engage the most using social media tools. The study indicates that 79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs.
It's interesting to find that companies are not just posting and tweeting randomly. Real conversations are going on.
For an evidence-based approach to social media, the reports suggest the following 9 tips:
1. Monitor your own, and your competitors, social media presence.
2. Get top management "buy-in".
3. Develop a social media strategy.
4. Define and publish a social media policy.
5. Develop internal structure.
6. Contribute to the community.
7. Participate in good times and in bad.
8. Be perpared to respond in real time.
9. Beyond monitoring, measure the impact of social media engagement.
You don't have to be a big company to harness the power of social media engagement. The rules are the same for any size business. In fact, social media has leveled the playing field in such a way that a small company or individual can have the same kind of reach as a bigger company by using social media tools. But you do have to follow the rules. If you are the top management then you must agree with yourself that you will be committed to using the social media tools you select. Do publish your social media policy even if you are the only one who will see it at first. This will give you a guide to help you remember what you said you would do. Don't think that just because your business is local that you don't have competitors. You do. Social media tools provide a great way of finding out what they are doing.
So, what is your social media tool of choice? How is your engagement through that channel improving your business outcomes? Have you performed a social media checkup lately?
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