Social Media Marketing

Social media provides many opportunities to advance your business but also opportunities to waste effort or worse, let efforts fall into disarray. In this series of blogs I will examine some guidelines for successfully growing your community and avoiding some common pitfalls.

Start with Intent

Identify what your intentions are in creating a social network. Are you hoping to improve awareness of your brand or open communication? Are you looking to reach new markets and open channels for sales or membership? Are you hoping to use these tools as collaboration platforms? Are you making informational products or are you simply virtualising your water cooler?

Knowing your intent drives which path you take.

Developing your network

Having a social network on your website is well and good but unless you invest a little energy in promoting it, the likelihood that it will ever become the active community that you desire is slim.

Rarely in history have thriving communities formed spontaneously. Major factors for early settlements included water sources, trade routes and defensible land formations. For your community to flourish you must offer some form of value which will incentivise users to stay and interact.

You can do any of the following but I recommend that you do only one, and do it very well.

1) Create short reports and updates on a personal level. These will give alway inside information, which readers will be pleased to receive.

2) Create helpful videos. Again these videos will provide something viewers want to know, in a very personal format.

3) Write and publish high quality articles.

With each of these avenues, you create a need for more information and a way to receive it. By publishing links or paths to your product, customers will have means to learn more about you and your business.

Capitalising On Success

Be sure to reward any interest that your customers have made in your social network. Respond promptly and enthusiastically and you will be surprised how fast you will build an army of followers.