In Social Media Marketing For Your Business: Part 2 we discussed branding your profiles and getting started with content. Now we’ll move on to navigating interaction on social media.

Interacting On Social Media

Social media can be a great tool for your business, but like any other marketing tool, it needs to be approached right to make sure that it is a productive use of your time, as well as making sure it draws positive attention towards your company. When you’re interacting on social media, there are some good rules to follow:

• Keep Your Account Active – The best way to gain followers and keep followers is to have a reason for people to visit your profiles. Create a regular posting schedule and stick to it.
• Don’t Overdo It – The best way to annoy followers is to overload them with way too many posts, or with low quality information. If you’re filling up timelines and boards with an overwhelming amount of posts that they don’t find interesting, it’s possible they will just unfollow your profiles all together.
• Focus On Quality – Your social media profiles should be a tool to enhance your marketing, not a trap you get stuck wasting time in. Use your accounts to give quality information and create genuine interaction.
• Be Responsive – If legitimate profiles and potential clients and customers follow you, follow back. If followers ask questions, leave comments, or promote you, it’s good to respond, comment back, and thank people for their promotion. It shows you care about customer service and your clientele.
• Keep It Professional – One of the downfalls of social media is that people don’t always maintain a high level of respect towards each other. Always remember that you are representing your business and it’s important to take the high road and maintain a professional attitude. With things like negative comments, either give a neutral and intelligence response, ignore, or delete. Don’t get caught up in reacting negatively or engaging in arguments. As Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”

Get Going!

So it’s really not as daunting as it may seem….

• Select your accounts.
• Establish your profiles.
• Post quality information.
• Interact Professionally.

If you follow these basics, you’ll see that social media can be a productive path to take on your journey to success.

In Social Media Marketing For Your Business: Part 1 we introduced you to social media and the available networks. In part 2 we’re going to discuss branding your profiles and getting started with content.

Branding Your Social Media Account

Here are some basics to branding your social media profiles:

• Profile Photo – Have a profile photo that is eye catching and related to your business.
• Logo – Include your logo within your profile so that your profile is immediately recognizable.
• Customize Your Profile – Customize your theme with a custom background, header, or profile colors.
• Descriptive Info – Fill out any “About Us” sections or description areas so that people get an introduction to, and summary of your business.

Posting On Your Social Media Accounts

After you have created and customized your accounts, you may be wondering… “What do I do now?”. The purpose of your accounts is to connect to people and spread the word about your business, so here are some examples of the kinds of posts that create success in social media campaigns:

• Company News & Events – Keep people up to date with what’s going on with your business, promote any events you’re taking part in, encourage people to take interest in your company as a whole. Have new members been added to your staff? Has your business received any awards? Have you opened a new location? Are you going to be appearing at a community event? These are the kinds of things that help people “get to know” your business, which can help build trust, and set yourself apart from your competitors.
• Deals, Sales, Coupons, Discounts – Promoting any kind of deals, sales, discounts or coupons on social media is a great way to attract new customers and clients. Saving money, or being offered something “extra”, is often the little bit of encouragement that turns potential customers and clients into actual customers and clients. These opportunities can also encourage customers who have maybe drifted away to come back, and if you offer various deals on a regular basis, they can keep people coming back. Your social media accounts are a great way to get the news out about your deals, and a great way for people to share them with others.
• Website Updates, Blog & Article Postings – Has your website had a redesign or a new addition? Let people know. Are you blogging regularly? Post notices about all your new articles and blog postings. Your social media accounts should eventually bring people back around to your business website.
• Industry News & Events – There are many companies that post and tweet and reblog about anything and everything to try to draw attention. While this may draw in people to some extent, it can water down your message, and your brand can get lost in the abundance of information. It’s good to periodically post about and discuss things that are happening in the world around you, but it’s most effective to a. stay focused on topics that relate to your business and industry, and b. make sure you use these types of posts to bring the topic of discussion back around to your company.

Part 3

Now that we’ve discussed establishing your social networks, check back next Monday for “Social Media Marketing For Your Business: Part 3”, where will go over some tips for interacting on social media.

Your social media accounts are an extension of your business, so it’s important to have them represent you accurately and portray your business in a positive light. While the social media world can be overwhelming, it’s something every business owner can learn to navigate with a simple plan of attack.

Selecting Your Profiles

In the past 5 years or so, social networks sprouted up everywhere like weeds. While it’s important for your business to have a presence in social media, it needs to be a manageable part of your marketing. It’s not possible to be on every social network in the world, so it’s best to create accounts on a focused number of networks that appeal to your business demographic, and consistently nurture those select accounts. You can check out Wikipedia’s List for an idea of what’s available, but most businesses will want to select their accounts from the top ten social networks. Here is a quick rundown on some of the major social networks that we find helpful to businesses:

• Facebook – The current mainstay of social networking. It’s a general site that is essential for any business.
• Google Plus – Another general site that’s good for any business, and helps with establishing a solid brand presence in Google.
• Twitter – A mainstream site that’s good for promoting short and quick pieces of information and is highly oriented around current events and media trends.
• LinkedIn – Business and professional networking. It’s good for keeping it touch with actual quality business connections.
• YouTube – All videos, great site for businesses to upload commercials, seminars, video blog posts, “how-to” and informational type videos, and promotional clips.
• Pinterest – Very consumer oriented site. Great for companies with products & services to find ways to creatively promote themselves and have others spread the word. Users respond to topics like “fitness tips”, “diy” or “home improvement”, “recipes”, “fashion”, and “family activities”.
• Tumblr – Mainly a photo reblogging site. Great for businesses with exciting or beautiful photographs such as photographers, artists or travel companies.

Part 2

Now that we’ve introduced you to the social networks, check back next Monday for “Social Media Marketing For Your Business: Part 2”, where will discuss establishing your profiles and give tips on social media posting.