Avoiding Sloppy Social Media

Social media is here to stay.  As an individual, being connected to social media means that you get to connect with your friends.  You get to learn what they’re up to, what they’re interested in, and what makes their world go ‘round.  As a business, you are afforded the answers to these same inquiries, but on a customer-centric level.   With this level of intimacy with your customers, you can increase sales, drive traffic to your website and better market your services.

With all these great opportunities, why would you mess up and not take this outlet seriously?  Don’t fall into the trap of sloppy social media like so many of our clients.  Learn from the mistakes we’ve seen at Optimum Systems Online:

• Beware of Auto Posting:  Of course, auto posting helps all of us save a little bit of time in the long run.  You can sit down, pound on the keyboard for a while, and create content that will flood the Internet’s airwaves for days or weeks.  But at what cost?  When you’re so focused on populating the auto posting calendar, you’re instantly losing touch with the ways that you can truly keep your content fresh and new.  Sure, you can set a few auto posts a week to give your readers a heads up about the comings and goings of your business, but be careful not to get excessive.  The more you automate your content, the more you’re automatically going to start disconnecting from your readers and the news of the day.

• Engage Your Customers:  As humans, we like to connect, we appreciate relationships, and we want to know that we’ve been heard.  As a business, it’s up to you to make your customers feel connected to you, appreciated by you, and heard as they talk.  When your readers or customers have something amazing to say about your company, take a second to thank them personally.  If the feedback is negative, don’t run away!  Not only can you grow from the experience, but acknowledging negativity gives you a chance to show your readers that you hear them, and that they’re valuable enough for you to want to know more.  A great example of this is the Danbury Whalers hockey team.  They have incorporated social media into everything they do and have gained an active following of quality sports fans who both support the team and pay to attend the games.

• Do As You Say:  We once had a custom cabinetry client from Bridgeport, CT who couldn’t understand why their Twitter page never took off.  Their content was engaging, messaging share-worthy and campaigns included social links.  The issue?  They didn’t follow anyone themselves.  So clients would click to their Twitter and see under 10 people followed, weren’t engaging others and didn’t take their social media seriously.

  If you’re going to ask people to take the time and effort to follow you, return the favor.  Find some great businesses or people that you can follow, and, well, follow them.  You don’t build a ton of credibility with your customers if you’re a one-way street.  In order to really be seen as an authority figure in your industry or matter of subject, you have to be willing to give credit where credit is due.  Your customers will notice when you engage with other businesses, and the other business’ customers will take notice of you, too.  Really, reciprocating on the social media circuit is the only way to truly show how well-rounded you are.

• Blogging is a Necessity:  So maybe you hate writing or you don’t have the time to do so properly.  That doesn’t mean you should just sweep the idea under the rug.  There are plenty of marketing firms and freelance writers that would love to help you get your words out there.  With all of the algorithms and advances in search engine technologies, you can’t really afford to sit back and know how great you are without the assistance of a blog, which will let other people know how great you are, too.  Business blogging isn’t intended to be dry and solely factual.  Rather, it’s meant to give you the opportunity to engage with your customers and really show them who you are, what you stand for, and what you’re all about.  And let’s not forget the boost you get to your SEO.  By blogging, you give search engines the opportunity to index more information about your website and your company, helping draw in the right customers through organic searches.

• Don’t Forget about LinkedIn:  While it’s easy to put Twitter and Facebook on the books when it comes to your business plan, a lot of people quickly forget about the importance of LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a social media space that’s made for networking professionally.  It’s always a little ironic when we discover that this is the last place business owners thought of advertising their goods and services.  Besides just having a personal and company profile on LinkedIn, you can advertise via blogging and groups that allow you to mix and mingle with like-minded business owners or potential customers.  In either case, the time it takes to create the profile and a little upkeep on the account can lead to optimal results in the end.

Social media is one of the easier ways to reach out to customers, so don’t under use this amazing outlet.  Post messages with confidence and intention.  Engage your customers and reach them where they are.  And if you need a bit of help, just call OSO for your social media needs.

If you enjoyed this blog, you may also enjoy reading, “Facebook: Would YOU “Like it”?