You’ve heard all the hype and have now taken the step and to join the social media crowd, but what next?
Before you start it is important to develop an online personality so that people know what to expect from you. If your twitter feed swaps and changes from being formal to informal followers will be confused and won’t know how to engage with you as they will be unsure of how it will be met. It is essential that you ensure the personality you choose is integrated with the rest of your business and fits in with the morals and values it follows. This not only keeps communication integrated it also ensures that more than one member of staff is capable of being responsible for the companies social media. If you are an extremely corporate business such as a bank, formal and professional in style you wouldn’t/shouldn’t really be tweeting the same sorts of things as a business in a more informal sector as undoubtedly your target audience will differ.
The next step is to build up followers, one way to do this is to follow individuals and organisations of interest and they are likely to follow you back. Another way is to take part in tweetchats, there are lots out there, depending on your sector, so have a look! If there is make a virtual appearance and get involved, this is one way of building followers who are relevant and who are keen to engage online.
It cannot be stressed enough to: ENGAGE, ENGAGE, ENGAGE! There is little point in joining social media if you do not engage with your followers, in fact it could be said that having a site with no movement on it for the past 5 months is worse than not having one at all. Tweet at least once a day - more if you can - reply to any messages you receive, say thank you to anyone who retweets you and make sure that you retweet any links you find interesting.
For those that claim there is not enough time in the day to do everything you need to, you’re right, everyone wishes there were more hours in the day. However social media is something that is worth spending some of your time on, it gives you a chance to gather direct feedback from your customers, engage with them directly and make connections with others who could benefit your business. For those at a desk all day aim to check it 3 times a day – in the morning, at lunchtime and just before you leave – if not more.
The nature of social media means it is extremely easy to use and can be used on the go using a smart phone meaning so there isn’t much of an excuse not to use it. Give social media a chance, don’t just set it up and leave it as you won’t build followers and a positive online presence with no effort.
Article Written by Carli Smith
Visit Inferno Designs for more on Search Engine Optimisation and Company Web Design.
1 comment:
Post a Comment