But whatever platform you're using, it's
important to remember a few do's and don'ts, when social networking for
business (and for personal!)....
DO YOUR HOMEWORK-
You need to know your audience
or target market. If you are posting for a company you will probably know about
the company and who it targets. But you also need to keep in mind what kind of
people each social media site attracts so you target the right people and don't
waste your time on a site that won't really gain you a sizeable audience.
Trying to attract a variety of followers will hinder targeting efforts.
DO INTERACT WITH YOUR
AUDIENCE-
Involving your audience gives
your brand more of a personality. This is really important as it means more
people will interact with you and then their audience will also see this and
get involved which will gain you more followers.
DO CREATE AN ALL ROUND IMAGE
FOR YOUR BRAND-
Repeatedly using the same logo
on all of your social media sites will help create brand awareness. Phrases
help people recognize brand traits and helps with building a personality for
your brand. Using the same colour scheme and imagery throughout will also help
your audience recognize your brand.
DON'T NEGLECT YOUR PAGE-
Your audience need to see
regular activity on the page otherwise they will lose interest. I would
recommend that a dedicated team member runs the social media page as social
media takes up a lot of time and uses a lot of creativity. Simply posting when
you feel like it will not do the job. A rota is always a good start. Giving
yourself something to stick to is easy and it means your activity on the page
won't slowly start to decrease. For example you may decide to tweet 4 times
throughout each day.
DON'T ASSUME EACH SOCIAL MEDIA
SITE IS SIMILAR-
All social media platforms are
unique and so users have different experiences with each. For example, Twitter
requires short, punchy statements as you have a letter limit, Pinterest and
Tumblr revolve around images and Facebook is pretty much an all rounder but
also great for event and campaign promotion.
DON'T GET TOO PROMOTIONAL-
If you only self-promote these
posts will start to become ignored. Your audience don't want to feel as if you
are forcing them into buying your product. Dedicating a certain amount of posts
a day or week to self-promotion will help you maintain that need to tell the
whole world how amazing your product is.
Happy Posting!!
