Monday 11 January 2016

How to Find Time to Market Your Company Using Social Media

Some social networkers are there for purely egotistical reasons. They don't want to engage in the conversation. They simply collect followers and friends in order to have bragging rights every time they collect another thousand. social media marketing blog But connecting, following or befriending just anyone dilutes your influence and standing among those in your audience. Others join because they feel they must. They spend a few days setting up their profiles and then abandon them when other tasks call.The real motivation for any business social networker is connection: You should want to connect with like-minded people who can help your business and whose businesses you can assist. You want to add to the conversation, and not come across as desperate, spammy or a waste of time. If you develop a bad reputation in these communities, it will be hard to shake off.But making such strong, real connections takes time, effort and thoughtfulness. If you never return to your profiles, you and your business will be forgotten (best case) or seen as unconnected, clueless or lazy (worst case). If you post too much, people might consider you a pest and stop following you.Some social networkers are the worst of both worlds: They don’t post to their blog or text their friends or colleagues for weeks at a time. They don’t reply to messages sent to them, and the company site looks like it has gone out of business. Then, without any warning, they’re back . . . alive . . . and conversing. Was the organization’s social networking person out of the country? Did they suffer a grave illness? social media marketing experts Nope. They were just distracted, disorganized, sidetracked or overworked. There’s no method to the company’s madness in being a social networking participant. Not committed. No strategy. Its influence will never be felt. The competition will soon fill the void.Whether your company is a one-person business or a large organization, your commitment to social networking should be consistent, compelling and informative.
social media marketing for small business

Assert clarity in your policy or reasons

Sometimes people are upset about a return policy or some rule you follow that can't be changed. It's perfectly fine to assert yourself to someone who is being negative about your brand, but do it politely,social media marketing articles with compassion and by supplying the reasons your policy exists. Don't make the reasons about the detractors -- make it about the betterment of every customer's experience.Some people run effective social media programs by listening instead of actually saying anything. But no matter if you converse with customers or not, you must have a purpose before you can engage. They want tangible value and through research, you'll learn what a desirable engagement program actually looks like. Don't get caught up in only replying to brand mentions. Your real opportunity is to also engage and convert those people not already talking about you.Companies believe that uploading a video to Youtube is the key to anything going viral. What they don't know is, 48 Hours of video is uploaded every minute to Youtube. The chance of your video going viral naturally is basically nil. However, with the Old Spice and Evian Rollerbaby examples, they identified all of the potential influencers in their space and reached out to them in advance of and during the video release. They sought help to make sure that the video was shared. Remember though, going viral only counts if it impacts your brand. If it creates lift, leaves an imprint or if it drives action or outcomes, that's when you're going viral. One in 11 people on the planet is on Facebook. Most everyone you know has an e-mail account, and likely, an account with at least one social network. That means your customers, social media marketing dallas your prospects and other contacts you hope to reach and nurture are using these tools to communicate, consume, acquire news and learn--and you have the tools to produce something of value to them.If you want to reach people, get them where they are. E-mail (though some worry it's dead) is still the No. 1 method of reaching people digitally. Don't translate that to mean "let's lob a crappy newsletter full of promotions" at people.

Assess what will help them feel better

Comcast's Frank Eliason answered upset customers on Twitter in 2007 by asking the question, "How can I help?" What those four simple words do is turn the power of the conversation over to the customer and let him or her, learn social media marketing if just for a moment, dictate the terms of what would help.When customers feel listened to and empowered, the company often earns credibility in their mind. Without delivering value, conveying a meaningful mission and vision, or establishing a connect-worthy presence, authenticity and transparency have nothing to reinforce. Instead, write simple, 500-word e-mails that read personably and offer more than your "thing of the week."Set up a blog, and post weekly articles. Use a video blog to really get people's attention. Keep videos to four minutes or less for anything except in-depth interviews. And if you want another big move, offer audio downloads to go with your videos. I've seen a huge uptick in people wanting audio files to take with them after they've seen the video.Because e-mail is still tops, work hard to get your buyers and prospects to sign up for your free e-mail newsletter. Utilize Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ (yes, it's in its early days, but I swear it's the next big thing).If your buyers are very mobile, consider an SMS service to send out brief updates to them via text (get people to opt in or they'll hate you for this). Construction workers, transportation pros and the like work much more from text and voice than e-mail and the web. Keep that in mind.You don't just want to beat people over the head with your own products or services. Find interesting information that applies to their tastes and share that, too. If you're a fledgling winery, importance of social media marketing for example, offer pairing recipes or link to relevant videos you've found on YouTube. Do whatever you can to share more than your own stories.You've got the chance to earn people's attention, to convert them from an audience into a community--and, ultimately, into loyal buyers. That's a process, one that takes little money, but requires attention and care. You can't just fire away and hope.

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