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A few basics to help you enhance your social media
So you’ve bitten the bullet and decided to join the social media band wagon and now you need to think about how to maintain it and how to build your followers.
Here are a few basic rules which will help you build the community that will spread the word for you.
Firstly, you need to post / tweet frequently, your social media must become a regular habit, whether you decide to post daily or 2 to 3 times per week. It is good to have spontaneity too, especially with twitter and a bit of humour here and there will go a long way. However there does need to be a continuity too and to make this happen you need to set aside regular time to write & schedule your posts, or this is something red desk can help you with if you don’t have the time. The more frequently you blog the more likely you are to grow your community faster.
This frequent posting needs to continue for the duration, you can’t stop and start. It may take 6 to 12 months to see results.
Another important part of your social media is to interact with other tweeters & bloggers in your field. Read other blogs and get a feel for what people are discussing and join in.
On Facebook you must make sure you create a ‘fan page’ for your business not a ‘personal profile’. People can ‘like’ your page without requesting permission unlike a personal profile. It’s also good to note that Facebook now has a dedicated page ‘Facebook for Business’ that can answer all your queries on how to use it to market your business.
Include good quality images on your on your facebook and blog and add a comment for each photograph, this allows Google to index all photographs and this could bring traffic your way.
Finally I will mention a couple of good practises for Twitter, firstly always add your location to your profile as this will bring local followers and secondly be polite, it’s good to thank people where appropriate. You should also advertise your friends and colleagues and try to give useful tips and advise.
The major point about all social media is not to use it for just plugging your services or goods but use it to create conversations & banter, to give useful information and in doing so create a vibrant forum where people will remember you.
If you need help with your social media email me at lindsay@reddesk.co.uk
Find me on Twitter @reddeskVA
Find me on Facebook Red Desk VA
The Possibilities of Social Media
This week I read an article about a company that actually used Twitter to build their business & in doing so have completely eliminated the need for cold calling, surely a good thing! Does cold calling actually work? Well many salespeople swear by it, but the problem is you’ve no way of knowing how that person is going to react, when I get called in the evening by someone trying to sell me a mobile phone contract I’m really not very impressed!
So here’s one of the things I love about social media, it allows you to reach target customers without interrupting people when they’re otherwise engaged. It allows you to increase awareness of your organisation & increase traffic to your website, which in turn will hopefully increase sales. It also allows you to monitor what is being said about your company, which can only be beneficial.
However social media is no use on its own, it needs to be part of a wider marketing strategy, it’s just one part of creating your companies identity & brand. At this point I do need to point out that I’m not trying to set myself up as a social media expert, because quite frankly I don’t think there are any.
At this stage there is a real lack of understanding of the possibilities of social media, most companies are just experimenting with it in a measured way. In a report by Harvard Business Review only 12% of companies asked, actually thought they were using social media effectively, 45% felt they were getting there & 43% felt it was ineffective.
So my point is, if you haven’t started using social media yet then you’re not too late. The idea must be to start small & build it up gradually learning as you go. You will very quickly find that once you’ve begun using one social networking site that a natural progression follows and the great thing is there are so many ways of linking it with all your other marketing.
It’s time to start experimenting & enjoy the learning curve, I am.
If you need further help or advice then red desk VA can guide you through the process & show you where to start, contact me at lindsay@reddesk.co.uk
If you’re an old hand at social media then you can follow me on:
Twitter: @reddeskVA
Facebook Page: Red Desk VA
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