Jan 10
6
How to Use Social Media Effectively
Simply by being on social media sites does not necessarily mean that you are using them effectively. The following is a list of social media red flags as far as proper and effective use is concerned:
Your business and personal Facebook friends are one and the same
As with all of the social media sites, you should consider quality over quantity when using Facebook. There is a high probability that you have your own real customers on Facebook and don’t have to use your personal connections as a substitute. Many businesses don’t put enough emphasis on proactively promoting their social media sites to focus on their customers and to strengthen their relationships with those customers.
Your Twitter page contains only newsfeeds
Social media is mostly about interactions among people and one-to-one contact. There should be some personality in your Twitter discussions, not just business-like, automated responses that don’t feel human. With that said, it is certainly appropriate to have a valuable mix of offerings on your Twitter page.
You have passed your social media responsibilities onto others
If you want to have a successful marketing campaign, you need to integrate it through your entire business. In order to accomplish this, everyone in your business needs to opt in. Many top-level business people feel that they don’t need to be involved with social media and have absolutely no knowledge of how to use the various sites or why they are so important. You don’t want one of your higher ups communicating to outside people that your company is on “MyFace” or “Spacebook”!
You feel as though your social media profile is ineffective
Social media is a marketing tool, even though it also works in areas like search engine optimization (SEO) and public relations. Some people may have lost site of the fact that the purpose of marketing (no matter which form it is in) is to generate sales. With that in mind, social media should be connected to business objectives. Those business objectives should generate revenue. One of the great advantages of social media over traditional marketing is that you can track statistics. Those statistics help you to calculate your return on investment (ROI).
You tried to use social media and it didn’t work for you
Maybe you feel as though social media dilutes your branding message. Maybe you feel that it is not a perfect fit for your business. Most likely, the reality is that you aren’t really adept at using social media and you didn’t properly integrate it into your marketing campaign. Possibly, after a few tries, you gave up on using it and walked away. You are missing out on a great deal of potential business opportunities if you don’t engage in social media. Among other things, being connected will help you to get into the customer’s head, which is vital for the ultimate success of your business.
Conclusion
If you are using social media effectively, that means that you are using an intelligent strategy that is tied to very real objectives and that strategy is carried out consistently over a long period of time. Hopefully, the advice given here makes sense for you and your business and it will help you to cultivate new relationships with potential customers as well as continuing to strengthen the relationships that you already have with your existing customers.
We are pleased to provide you the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.
About the Author. Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications LLC. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies.
Mr. Cohn founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their exposure and reputation on the Internet. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility.
Prior to that, Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company’s Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity.
His expertise includes social media marketing strategies; internet marketing; web presence design; business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.
Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.
Mr. Cohn is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).You might also like:
Enter your email address to subscribe to our CompuKol Connection blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
