1. Premises, plan, goals. Do you know where are you going?
Market, in any business sector, is too competitive to reward rough-and-ready strategies. When you decide to invest in Social Media Marketing, you need to know where you are going: what communication needs are you challenging, what kind of activities are you planning to promote, and most of all what goals you’d like to reach. Write down your plan, briefly. And keep it as your guideline.
2. Myself, my product, my business. But… what place does your client stay?
The power of Social Media consists in being a platform that facilitates dialogue. Any dialogue, to be effective, requires the participation of more than one actor – in this case, you and your target. A good Social Media Marketing strategy should avoid excess of monologue, inviting instead to interaction, discussion, participation. So… don’t behave as you were at your small stall in a crowded market. Don’t shout out your product as it was an overall must-have, but offer smart solutions to people’s everyday problems.
3. Keep it tidy, update and polite. Customers will thank you.
You profile on Social Media is like a widow in a shopping mall. If it’s well organized and eye-catching, people won’t resist to get in. Think about it. And start arranging your web presence “in style”: keep data and contacts updated, renew contents and pictures with regularity, choose carefully the best you can show about your business. Give a coherent rule and limit about topics and tone-of-voice that really spread a positive image of you and of your company.
4. Professionalism rewards. Experience too.
It will come the time when you’re too busy to take care of your Social Profiles personally. A common mistake is to undervalue the importance of your business’ image on Internet, thinking that anything is good to keep people involved. Try to avoid loss, at the time you need help to manage your Social Media Marketing: young and “web mother language” human resources can be great in proposing new and out of the box activities. But without a solid expertise in the sector, it will be difficult to direct efforts towards goals. What about outsourcing part of the work to a specialized agency?
5. Look at the web-world around you. Monitor reviews and… rumors!
When you reach popularity, of course, people will start talking about you. And the Social Media marketplace is not an exception. Save time to surf around the web, to observe and listen voices from the community. Maybe somebody is talking about you, in positive and negative terms – don’t forget that opinion makers are influent among your target. Pay attention in fulfilling positive expectations, and in overcoming (with elegance) negative comments.