Just having a social media site will not work for a business, today a business must make an effort to fully engage with the target audience or risk alienation from an increasingly cynical consumer base.

Below are some tips to help keep your audience glued to your social media campaign without annoying them or alienating them.

1. Your strategy must be clear on social media

There is no more room for having a page that is broadly based on social media. Having a clear lane is key. If a person knows exactly what kind of news or information they will be getting from your website, they will be much more likely to return when they need that information.

In short, doing many things well is not the way to go. It is better to do one thing better than anyone else online.

2. Use Social media to drive quality traffic to your site

The major search engines have all implemented more weight on social media into their algorithms. This means that your presence on social media is affecting your presence on the Internet overall. Release your Tweets or your Facebook posts with an eye towards links being built. These links will drive your pages up on search engine rankings very quickly. Be careful not to get hung up on SEO and links, if you are writing on subjects of real interest to your audience and are promoting your thoughts via Social media the SEO takes care of itself.

3. Market to your target audience

In all ways, the modern consumer is being segmented. The more distinct you are, the better chance you have of building a loyal customer base. Choose the social media platforms that your consumers are already using. For instance, YouTube is great for a local tool hire shop to share how to videos, were as Facebook would be a less effective platform. However, a marketing company may have more success on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

4. Stop hating the new Facebook and use the new Facebook

Instead of hating the new Timeline structure that obviously is not going away, learn how to use it. The Timeline actually offers a great deal of opportunity for a business to brand itself. Although the Timeline format means that a business must keep up with industry happenings more than ever before, this is a good thing. It actually increases the amount of interaction between the customer and the business, which can only help things (as long as you do not try to oversell them online).

5. Look outside the large social media networks to more nuanced networks

Facebook and Twitter are not the be all and end all of social media. Nor is YouTube and LinkedIn. In keeping with the need of every business to simplify and narrow their focus, every business should look for the smaller social networks that correspond with particular industries.

There are smaller social networks like Foursquare that serve particular purposes such as location-based reviews. Be sure not to forget these niche social media sites, as they can help connect you with your target market as well.

6. Make sure that your social media package is truly integrated

If you as a business owner do not like interacting with customers, it will show on your social media platforms.

Your social media presence can not be cursory. You must make a real effort to connect all of the hubs that you build online so that people can see you are truly engaged. If you are truly not a people person, then hire someone who is. This is too important to just let go.

7. Think about your audience first

You don’t necessarily need a social media profile on every major social media platform. Depending on your audience, you may be able to let some networks go completely.

If your audience does not use Facebook, then you should not be on Facebook. To do so would be a massive waste of time. The way that you can check this is to simply focus equal attention on all social media hubs and see where you get the most attention back. Obviously, you will want to focus more effort on those social media hubs and ignore or even completely delete the hubs that do not get attention. If your audience is not there, then you don’t need to be there.

8. Don’t push things on customers using social media

Social media is what is known as a pull channel, not a push channel. This means no hard selling on social media channels. If you simply continue to maintain an effective presence and communicate subjects of real worth the eventual benefits of a loyal following will pay dividends in the form of trust in your brand and voice.

9. Don’t worry about bad publicity; fix it

All publicity is good publicity for a business that is prepared. If you get a bad review, handle it immediately. You can then turn the situation around to show that you handle problems quickly rather than leaving it hanging to be read over and over by other potential customers.

10. Consider where technology is going

All brands that hope to survive when TV and the Internet fully integrate (watch this space) will need to become content publishers in some way. By 2014 all TV sets are expected to be Internet enabled. This means that every business that hopes to make an impact will need to entertain as well as inform.

In summary

Social media isn’t something to be scared of, you need to bite the bullet and get stuck straight in today. Choose the networks your audience is using and offer the most appropriate tools. Start by sharing your thoughts on subjects you know inside out, but never use Social media just to push your products and services (cue the plug).

Author Chris Anderson

Toxic Creative - RESULT DRIVEN DESIGN & MARKETING
We’re based in Northampton and are experts in all aspects of graphic design, website design and marketing, from dynamic websites and printed literature to logo design and brand development … we do it all.