Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Have you dabbled in social media? Did you find that it was not gaining the ROI that you thought it might? Maybe you did not receive any of the results that you had anticipated. Believe it or not, there are specific guidelines and precautions that should be followed in order to make social media a powerful tool to build a foundation for your brand, customers and bottom line.
Know your audience: Listening is key. Read into market content and participate in those discussions. Knowing your audience will make your content more attractive to users.
Specialization: Highly focused content is equivalent to placing the building blocks of a foundation to building a strong business/brand. Generally, a “shotgun” approach to marketing does not gain traction with an audience that is craving deep and detailed content. Say it to yourself, “quality, not quantity”. High quality content will be read, shared and discussed across multiple social media outlets, connections or followers.
Shareable content: Immediate gratification will not happen in social media. Commit to your content, make your content found, do not wait for users to find you. Discuss your content in other discussions and drive those participants back to your postings.
Influence: Find those in your market that have many quality followers/connections. Interject yourself into discussions and connect with other followers. They will soon be the ones to read, discuss and share your content.
Value: Maintain focus and commit to the creation of fantastic content. Make your posts meaningful and not just frequent product or brand postings. The latter will desensitize your audience and risk alienating those you are seeking to attract.
Build relationships: Interact with your connections and followers. Users see it as rude if they are attempting to share and interact with a silent, cold entity. Make them feel special, acknowledgment is the path to growth!
Participation: You cannot expect someone to read or share your content if you are not doing the same. Take the time to foster relationships and share content. Even sharing across multiple social media sites will help you gain attention by not only those whose content is being shared, but by potential customers/clients.
Social media is not about committing 5 minutes every week to post a few pieces of content then logout. Make that content rich with detail, discuss your content and interact with other users. With these basic guidelines, social media is able to be a viable tool to access new customers/clients as well as communicate and grow your business with existing customers/clients.
