We regularly talk about how great social media can be for a business of any size. Not only can it help you attract new clients but it can also help you continue to keep the existing relationships you have going. But if you’re not using it interactively it might not be all that effective for you.
A lot of website owners start Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts and then start trying to build their presence on them. For some, it gets a bit overwhelming and so they try to leverage tools that let them schedule things in advance, auto-follow and / or auto-respond to others, etc. to help them save time. But if you do too much pushing and not enough interacting you probably won’t get all that far with social media. Don’t forget the ‘social’ in social media. Viral posts don’t happen every day; you generally have to work for those re-tweets and shares.
Your customers and potential customers are using social media tools more than ever and they use it at various times so it’s not always easy to interact on a schedule. You should consider doing a combination of scheduled and live updates. You should also take the time to study to see the most effective times and places to invest in. If you do, you will maximise the opportunity of leveraging the social media tools that are out there and strengthening and developing relationships.
People are using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites during work hours and they use it while playing, too. People want to be informed and / or entertained and many look to interact with the brands that they are interested in. Not every follower or fan is going to interact with you directly but if they see that you are interacting rather than just pushing out ‘buy now’ links, you’ll likely gather more followers / friends, retain more, and get more re-tweets / likes, etc. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Answer questions. If someone asks something publicly, answer it publicly.
- Be gracious. Show your appreciation publicly for people who follow you and interact with you.
- Provide value. You can get more social media friends from being helpful and informative than from being a pushy salesperson.
- Be mindful of your ratio of promotional vs. non-promotional updates.
- Regularly check your social media results to see where you are getting the most value for the time you put in.
Do you need help with your social media management, SEO, web design, or marketing? Talk to us at Market Ease.