Social Media – Where To Begin
Social media, over the past few years, has become unbelievably popular. A substantial amount of time is spent on the various social media outlets, and this trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The internet is used for everything, and social interaction is a major part of that everything.
Social media has developed into being much more than just friends connecting with friends, into a place where businesses can grow and connect as well. Internet presence for businesses has grown from helpful to necessary. Not only does a company need a website, but social has/is becoming an essential building block as well. Social is a great way for businesses to build and communicate with their brand advocates.
Where to begin your social presence
There is much more to getting your company involved in social than just creating a few accounts. That is, however, the first step in the process. After you decide which social media outlet you are going to focus on, create an account and jump right in! A few sites that are most commonly created first:
It is good to get the accounts created, but then best to research and begin putting effort into one specific outlet. This will help you understand the social media world better before you start taking on multiple accounts.
Another important item to note is keeping your overall brand consistent in social media. Dressing up your pages to stay steady across the board, brand-wise. This means using your logo, colors, and photos to embellish your account pages. This consistency is important as you want to make sure your social outlets remind users of your core brand.
How to determine social posting topics
Social media is another way for businesses to connect with their customers. It offers a great place for questions to be answered, reviews to be given and helpful information to be learned. As a business, you want to present yourself as a knowledgeable thought leader in your industry. It is important to stay on top of the news in your industry and be up to date on providing thoughts and information about your particular industry. This will help you gain the trust of your followers, thus instilling your brand in their mind when thinking about the industry.
You also most likely know the most common questions that arise around your business; social is a place to provide the answers to these questions. Sharing these questions and answers will be one more way to give out helpful information to those in search of it. The reverse of that is also a great way to start conversations. You ask the users a question and it will help get some good dialogue started.
Simple yes/no questions like “should” and “would,” as well as multiple choice questions like “which” tend to get more comments than average Facebook posts- Hubspot
Who should I follow with my business social accounts?
A great place to start when deciding who to follow/like with your business page is other people involved in your industry. Jump right into their conversations! Ask them questions, comment on their posts and just be involved. Once you start to build a following, your customers will appreciate the knowledgeable conversations that are occurring.
“Oversharing and not listening. Social is a 2-way conversation!” -Paul Odnoletkov, Global Marketing Associate, Geosoft, Inc.
Go, be social!
This high-level overview of social is meant to simply help your business begin their social presence. Many other ideas can be used to build your social networks such as contests, real-time photos relating to your business and offerings like Ebooks, coupons and blogs.
An important reminder is to install a plugin on your site that makes sharing pages, posts, etc. quick and easy. Pushing your posts out to your social audience as well will help it get the attention it deserves!
Researching each social platform and putting the time in to really learn about them will pay off in the end. Social is a way to help market your brand, bring visits to your website, provide customer service and so much more.
So now it’s time for you to go create and jump right into the conversations. Have fun!
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