Photograph courtesy of Thought Pick.
We're excited to continue our "Voice Matters Guest Bloggers Series" with this post by Jordan Mendys, an independent filmmaker and blogger for Direct2TV. If you like to write for us, learn more about our Guest Bloggers Series here.
Social media is nothing new, and neither is using different platforms to help promote businesses and organizations. Small businesses and organizations are some of the best types of groups to benefit from social media given that online communities tend to support their own. There are, however, a few rules that companies should follow if they want to drive revenue and/or visibility. With these tips and practices, you should be able to create a strong social presence.
Maintain Your Efforts
Social media accounts are not self-sustaining—you need to take control. I have worked at companies with relaxed social media practices. They thought simply having a Facebook page was enough to drive visibility. But you can’t publish everything under the sun without direction or purpose. You also can’t post everything you come across because important messages will get lost in the crowd, and you may end up annoying your followers. Put simply, keep followers up to date on your company’s latest accomplishments, and try not to repost too many things unless they are of interest to your industry or field of work.
Another aspect of maintaining social media efforts is to mix up your media usage. Post pictures when something big and exciting is going on. If you have the chance to put up videos, do that as well. Diversifying your social media efforts is going to help your company get noticed.
Engage Your Customers/Audience
This has a lot to do with maintaining your efforts, but it takes it a step further. As much as customers enjoy staying up-to-date on your company’s accomplishments, they also like being able to give feedback. Engage customers by posting questions and polls. Also, if someone posts on your Facebook wall, mentions your company in a tweet or replies to a blog post, make sure you respond. People like to know that you are taking their opinions seriously. You should treat social interaction the same as you’d treat face-to-face interaction. When I blog for other websites, I try my best to defend my piece (if need be) and thank people for their kind words.
Diversify your Social Media Approach
This means a couple of different things. For one, diversify your platforms. Don’t just have a Twitter or Facebook account—branch out to YouTube, Slideshare, Tumblr, and even Pinterest. This can seem like a daunting task, but you want to cast a wide net to reach as many people as possible. We’re in a day and age where multiple social accounts add legitimacy to your business, and it can have a negative effect if you try to keep all your eggs in one basket.
The other side of diversifying involves having more than one person taking care of the social media efforts. Encourage everyone in your company to take part in the outreach by handling different accounts on different days. If you have a blog, encourage everyone to write an occasional post. It can be refreshing to have multiple voices represent your company.
