How do you effectively manage social media?
I have multiple social media sites that I never utilize. What would be a good way to start educating your target market about your unique services?
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Sep 25, 2014
First do try and understand what each platforms is meant to do, like Instagram is good for pictures, YouTube for videos, Slideshares for documents and so on.
Then next you look at your contents and what you want to share. Like @Joseph said, it is a community and as a result you need to engage your community. It is not a one-way street, it is a two-way street, that is why it is called social.
Consistency with your contents is key. You do not need to post an 800-word documents, Keep It Simple and Short (KISS), this is the most important part of engaging. You do not want to bore your readers with long and boring write-ups.
Make it a mixture of graphics, information, data, graphs, etc. Infographics is huge right now and as a result, make reading fun with nice infographs.
Sep 25, 2014
First SM is very important in your portfolio. Also job hunters and even clients will check you our on Social media, particularly Linkedin Google+ and Twitter. Some will check to see if you have a KLOUT score which is SM that tracks everyone, supposedly in the world. Find someone you know and ask them how they do their SM integration which I feel should be left to SM experts. That being said I personally use three SM tools daily. Linkedin first; Google+ second and Twitter 3rd. I do all my own posts.Ultimately if you can afford it hire someone if you are launching a new product or campaign.
Sep 25, 2014
Hi Roszette,
I am sure by now you got the idea that you want to not think about it as educating your audience. You have received a lot of great information starting with Joseph. I want to go a bit further. If you find your ideal customer, dig really deep. Where is that target audience? Really focus hard on that. If your target audience is say: a housewife whose children have gone back to school, she is going to be on Facebook and Instagram. But dig deep. I went so far as to determine what type of television shows my customer would watch, then used that and tied it in to a blog article I wrote.
After you have determined your ideal customer, next is branding. Is your product your own or do you work for a company? If you are working for a company and it is their product, then brand yourself. The company has already branded itself and if you later decide to move on you will regret having branded yourself the way you did.
The general rule is that 80% of your content needs to be geared toward your ideal customer and 20% can be advertising on that platform. Because you are just starting, I would make it only 10% advertising. People do not want to be spammed. They go on social media to be social, not to entertained, not to be pitched to.
Next you need to be strategic in your planing of your social media platform. Give variety to what you put out there. If all you give is inspiration, your audience will get tired of it. Throw in humor, and go ahead and be a bit controversial, but put it out there as a question, WHAT DO YOU THINK>>>>> That is going to encourage that engagement that is so important. Throw in a little lifestyle pictures with you or your children. Photos of money are a huge NO NO. You will see those photos that promise the money, but they are spammy as well as illegal.
The advice of engaging with your audience is also vitally important. I would mark off on your calendar two or three times a day to check on any comments so that you are quick to respond to comments.
Your social media platforms are totally different and need to be handled with kid gloves. They will drop you in a second. They will respond to VALUE. If you are giving something that will help them, they will pay more attention to you. Watch some of the Gary Vaynerchuk videos. He says to give give and then ask. Read his books. He is one of many that gives value to his audience and that audience is social media. His manner is very straightforward and sometimes the language is just a bit shocking, but he even uses that with a strategy. One of his quotes that I often repeat is that "We have to market in the year that we are in"
One final thought. People buy from people that they can know, like, trust and respect. Be yourself but take the time to #BetheBestU. Which also brings in hastags, use no more than 3, but use them. Be sure they relate to "Your branding" and use tools to learn which platforms have the best results. You want your key words to be targeted, but also to be appropriate to help people to find what you are putting out there when they search for "Whatever".
Sep 24, 2014
Hi, you can start with facebook, linkedin, twitter. you must create person profile and create pages for business. daily minimum one post on every profile...
Sep 24, 2014
I have a blend of things on my social media pages. Perhaps that isn't right, but I feel that if someone is hawking their wares one hundred percent of the time, people will gloss over the new information and get bored. In my case, since I am an editor and a writer, I post accomplishments and milestones I've passed. Also, I'll put up an occasional humorous meme regarding grammar or books. And, I include noteworthy accomplishments of other authors that I know, too. As long as the information presented is relevant to your business, I think adding a variety of things helps rather than hinders. It's important as well, to not overdo it. You don't want people thinking, "Oh no, not that site again!"
Sep 24, 2014
@Joseph hit the nail on the head. Even if you are a rocket scientist that wants teens to learn about space and your way to reach them is social media - you are not educating them directly. Education comes in the form of conversation. Just like on here. We use MosaicHUB to ask and get insight from other peoples experiences and expertise. We arn't being taught, we are simply picking up on little pieces that resonate with us.
Social media is all about community building. You want to create interest in what it is you are doing. Back to the rocket scientist example...If I wanted to "educate" kids on how far the earth is away from the sun, I would do something interesting that not only shows them, but engages them...and furthermore, makes them want to share it with others they think might be interested.
Think about creating engaging content that will result in a like, or a share. Photos are great on Facebook. That is the form of content that will get engaged with the most. Twitter is for driving people to engaging content elsewhere. Doesn't always have to be something you create...it can also be something that you found that you think your audience might enjoy reading, or having in front of them.
A great tool for managing all of these social accounts is http://sproutsocial.com. Once of the best social management tools I could recommend.
Good luck and write me if you have any questions
Sep 24, 2014
Have a series of concise articles and syndicate them over many platforms, take plenty of time to engage the audience you develop in ways that give you the opportunity to present your solutions.
Sep 24, 2014
Hi there,
We deal with business and political campaigns, and we hear this question a lot from clients.
The first thing I would do is ascertain which demographic target group for your audience uses which social media platform. You want to ensure you are on FB, Twitter, Google+, YouTube to start with, but if a lot of your target demographic is on Pinterest, or Snapchat, or other platform, then you'll want to ensure you have a presence there.
Once you're on, then start putting together a plan that includes when your target audience is reached, the content you want to share, etc. (there are several guides you can find online).
With a plan and tools in place, you want to begin creating, scheduling, and sharing your content. The content will be key, but you want to connect with and engage your potential clients at a very personable, friendly level. If you can display how-to videos using your services, or in your area of expertise, you will get shared, liked, followed, and slowly build up a base online.
The key is quality content, real engagement, and consistency over time. And, it WILL take time.
Hope that helps!
Sep 24, 2014
I would take a look at a powerful social media management platform like meetSOCI. If interested, feel free to contact me as I'm assisting them on their business development/sales front. Click here for a video: http://youtu.be/kQ8uQJ6gzs8