If you are just starting out on your commercial social
networking journey or have reached the point where you need to enhance the work
of your SEO/Social media company with your own responsive socialising, then here
are some tips to help you on your way.
When looking at other companies and wondering how they built
their presence up online you could be forgiven for thinking they have earned
that position simply because of their size, but social media, like organic
search is not just about domination by the big boys, it is about clever
marketing strategies and hard work.
Ideally you will need to be working towards building up a
network of quality followers but this does not happen overnight - building a following takes time and effort
and it is a continual process.
If you haven’t yet figured out how to tweet or have a dusty
corporate Facebook page with no updates and no likes there is no doubt that now
is the time to act . Search is becoming
increasingly social and with Google rolling out algorithm updates more quickly
than you can reel off the list of black and white animals it tends to favour;
it makes sense that everyone should be looking to drive traffic to their site
socially and not just relying on organic search.
So where do you begin building your brand socially?
Firstly you need to approach social networking in the same
way that you approach the design and wording of your website or marketing
materials – by identifying your USP – what it is that makes you stand out from the
crowd? What do you do that your
competitors don’t? What can you deliver
that no one else can or what can you deliver that is better than everyone else? Identifying what it is that makes your brand
unique will stand you in good stead as you start your social journey.
Social channels cannot simply be used to sell – in fact if
you think that tweeting or pinning up images in Pinterest is going to be all
about peddling your own wares you need to take a step back. Creating a presence socially is about giving
something back to the community, to your potential customers; it is about
creating something of interest which may then lead to increased brand awareness
and a rise in sales.
In order to generate more interest in what your business
stands for and the products/services you provide you will need to build up a
following of like-minded people who will care about your ethos and the services
you offer. Quantity isn’t everything so
don’t be tempted to follow any old profile simply to get the follow back, targeting
the right kind of audience will be more important as these are the people that
are most likely to be interested in what you have to say. If your business is local, look for people in
your local area and other businesses that may have need of your services or
that you may be able to collaborate with rather than approaching those people
in another region or country who will in all honesty not be able to access what
you are offering.
A great way to build up a following is to join groups or
even create your own. This can work
particularly well to identify yourself or your business as a leading authority
within your industry
You also need to get a better understanding of your customer
demographic and know who your competitors are.
There is nothing wrong with trying to emulate the competition so long as
you ensure that you are honest about why you need social marketing – to improve
brand awareness, to increase traffic, to increase communication with customers
or to reach new audiences – and that you put your own spin on everything and
make it unique to your business, your brand and your ethos.
Also don’t act in isolation.
If you want people to like and follow your business you need to ensure
that you are socially active and follow/like other people. Join relevant groups and start making a name
for yourself and share others’ content if you feel it would be of interest to
your own readers.
Of course there are social media and online marketing
companies out there who will be more than happy to assist you with your social
marketing, but even at the highest price tag and with the best intentions they
will never know your business as well as you do. Any social media marketing that you pay for
needs to be supplemented with your own responses, status updates, comments and
community building because at the end of the day it is your reputation that is
being built.
If you feel you do need help to boost your presence socially please do get in touch :)
