Social media marketing is an act of utilizing one or more of the numerous social media marketing mediums such as Twitter or Youtube as a means of promoting a business. For the majority of business owners, they'll start out by creating a Facebook page but without having the knowledge to successfully use it as a valuable vehicle for self-promotion. Here are 10 tips for business owners to be able to successfully manage their social media accounts.
The 10 Basic Rules of Social Media Marketing
Update your Page Regularly
Your potential clients will feel as though you're a proactive and progressive business if you update your pages each day. If you let your Facebook fan page go stale, this will automatically transpire to those who visit your page. Update your pages each day and tell everyone what's happening in your part of the world.
It's Not a Sales Pitch!
The idea is to connect with your audience, not pitch. Social media provides the opportunity to form real relationships with real people. Consumers see enough bling and sales pitches on their TV screens. Become a resource not a blatant advertisement.
Communicate.
You need to be fully engaged in the conversations that are taking place on your page. This means responding to comments and questions in a timely manner.
Choose Your Words with Care.
Be careful not to make irrational statements, choose your words wisely, it's easy to stain your online reputation by posting comments or views you may later regret. If you've engaged a social media or SEO firm to undertake your campaigns, make sure they are reputable and trustworthy. What goes out into cyberspace usually remains there forever as a permanent document. Only post newsworthy and relevant information.
Customer Service
If your customer/s start posting negative comments on your page, you should refrain from removing those comments (unless foul language is used), otherwise it looks like you have something to hide and people will make mention of this on other social media pages. Instead, respond collectively don't respond to each individual criticism. Alert people that you are undertaking all possible measures to rectify an issues. Be careful not to make promises you can't keep.
Link to Other People
Linking to other pages that are useful and relevant is a great way to expand your social presence. If you link out to other pages, you're more likely to get other people linking back to your page which not only promotes your business but is a key component to increasing your search engine rankings.
Share Things
There's so many Facebook and Twitter accounts out there nowadays, so much so that it's easy to overlook a page among all the others. Thus try and personalize your page slightly by posting some funny pictures of your work Christmas party or some other work function: Show your customers you're human.
8. Start a Weekly Routine or Trend
This is a great idea to keep your friends and followers checking in regularly. If you own a pet shop, feature the pet of the week on your page. Or if you own and online dating site, you could feature the most popular guy and girl of the week for other interested dating prospects to post comments and opinions.
9. Link Back to Your Main Website
So much time and effort goes into writing and researching your website or blog posts. Show your followers some of the cool things you love to write about by posting the occasional blog article link on your Facebook page. Try not to do it all the time, otherwise people will get bored so just pick one or two article posts a week and show them off to your social media followers
10. Spreading the Word
Simply creating the social media accounts is only scratching the surface. Your efforts need to go far more and beyond the initial set up phase. Showcase your Facebook and Twitter pages via your main business website, include your social media links in your email signature and put the addresses on your business cards and other stationery items.
If you're a web designer, or know someone who is, you can design your Facebook fan page to act as another landing page back to your main site. Facebook pages can be customized and easily branded the same way as your company website.