Today’s marketing environment is dominated by social media and personalized experiences. If you do not incorporate the use of social media into your daily business operations, you won’t remain competitive and will miss out on the opportunity to capture the interest and attention of a global audience. Although there are many social media avenues, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are three of the most popular.
You may already have Facebook and LinkedIn pages for your business, but if not, its high time to consider building your social media presence with these two platforms. Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Facebook had more that 500 million daily users in 2011 (many of whom accessed Facebook using their mobile phones). People now use their phones to stay in touch, get information, and engage in ways that weren't possible until recently. If your business isn't plugged in to that network of information exchange, you are losing out on being competitive. If you do have a social media presence for your business, you must regularly update and refresh your content to keep up with the active, mobile audiences.
Turbo-charge social media presence for your business with these easy strategies.
1. Use Photos and Videos on Facebook
Post to your Facebook page regularly, not just with text, but with photos and videos as well. Create fresh, relevant posts, incorporating photos and videos, that talk about new products and services, new sales campaigns, employee achievements, and any news that persuades people to do business with you.
2. Showcase with LinkedIn
Showcase your company with LinkedIn. Share your company history, present your products and services, and announce careers opportunities to develop interest. Add a follow button so viewers can easily follow your company on LinkedIn. Regularly discuss company news and announcements on LinkedIn. Add customers, vendors, and industry alliances as connections.
3. Twitter Integration
Develop a Twitter strategy and experiment with it. Have your marketing or advertising manager incorporate a Twitter feed into all sales and ad campaigns to reach your target market instantly and double the impact of such campaigns. Get your top sales persons to retweet company tweets. Find out what competitors are doing with Twitter and try some of their strategies.
4. Use YouTube
Give your customers a visual introduction to your company with YouTube. Open a YouTube account for your business and post appropriate videos such as tour of your facilities, introductions to your employees, and holiday greetings. You can also upload company advertisements on YouTube. Post links to these YouTube videos on your Facebook wall and announce them on your Twitter feed.
5. Blog
Provide quality, qualified information (to your customers) by starting a blog and creating content that is of interest and benefit to both your customers and industry in which you operate. Make it a point to update your blog regularly and invite customers, vendors, and industry insiders to contribute to it. Include reactions and keep your blog focused on your audience and your business. Comment on other similar or related blogs.
Coordinate your social media strategies with all sales, marketing, and promotional efforts and campaigns. Make sure your social media strategies are focused on your audience and include a focused call to action, to get the most engagement out of your efforts.
Track results from any and all social media you use, and plan to improve on things that did not achieve the results you expected. If you have reservations about social media, discuss them with a business lawyer experienced in intellectual property, copyright law, and marketing and advertising.
Sam is a copy writer and blogger with a diverse background in inbound marketing and social media strategies.