social media, blah blah blah…

There are many reasons why Social Media is here to stay, but the real question I want to put to your today is what do you want from your Social Media experience?

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are just a few forums that have become a flooded market for businesses promoting their products and services. Along with this flood, comes the saturation of businesses offering “Social Media Services”.
So I revert back to my original question – what is it you want from your Social Media experience?

Social networking sites are great tools for communicating and building relationships with customers, and also potential customers. Realistically your Social Media goals cannot be defined simply by the number of followers and fans you may have or want to accumulate, rather the followers and fans that you actually interact with.

do you want to be the one building a relationship with your customers?

There are no quick fixes or short cuts, relationships are the result of invested time and resources. Social Media is about people and personal interaction, and personal recommendations. Whoever manages your social media for you needs the same instruction and direction as someone who is directly under your employ, and in the very least a sound knowledge of your business and the direction it is headed. Ideally they require the same passion you possess about promoting your products and services!

what are your social media goals?

social mediaThis can be a grey area – whether you are new to using Social Networking sites or just don’t understand how they work, you can quite easily be confused about what it is that you need to achieve and find yourself simply following the crowd and doing it because you think you should. Certainly you want the likes and the follows, but beyond that you want relationships – life has taught us that building relationships is a process that requires time. Our Social Media goal is to get our “likers” and “followers” to interact with us, provide feedback, ask questions, share information, recommend our business to their friends.

what are you combining with your social media efforts?

Social Media is just one piece of the marketing machine you need to use to market your business and should be used in conjunction with other mediums such as:

  • A well set-out and informative website
  • A targeted PPC campaign
  • Video marketing
  • Blogging
  • Offline marketing

Your Social Media success will require:

  • Learning how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc effectively
  • Time and patience
  • Integration with other marketing initiatives
  • You!

think about this…

Social Networking sites like Facebook as so successful because they replicate the way we network in real life, online, without actually having to leave the comfort of our home/office/where ever. Apply the same techniques/approach you would at a networking event – who you approach, how you introduce yourself, what you say to them, what questions do you ask?

do you need help?

Get-online-now.biz offer tailored one-on-one or small group training on using social media to promote your business as well as other topics such as blogging, email marketing and using CMS software.