Choosing a Social Campaign
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Youtube, any corporation who decides to take their business aboard the World Wide Web should take a long, hard look at their social media campaign to see if it’s returning value. Many companies get on board a social networking site and expect a one hundred fold return almost immediately, as if just setting up an account was all they needed to do.
Growing the social side of a business requires focus and a dedicated effort to the process.
Social Media for Individuals
Becoming familiar with and participating on social media outlets can be a lot of fun. Interacting with people online who have the same interests and opinions can be a satisfying experience. Facebook for instance currently has over 400 million users online and are steadily growing. People join Facebook, send Tweets and update their photos to Flickr so they can be a part of what’s going on with their friends and family.
Social Media for Businesses
Part of the attraction for businesses to get on board social networking sites is the audience exposure that is available online. Social networking for individuals is a definite boon, however for businesses, social media outlets and interacting goes far beyond entertainment. It goes to the heart of why and how the business develops their brand online. When businesses begin building their brand and image, they need creative ways to make an impact on their demographics. Effective social media strategies are the key to unlocking the power of the system and getting it to work in their favor.
Maximizing the Outlets
Joining social media outlets is the first step. Finding relevant social outlets is very important. Many businesses will simply join each and every social media platform that becomes available, thinking that the more they’re a part of, the more exposure they will get. This is not necessarily so, which is why choosing the right ones to join should be a relevant issue, and more important than choosing what’s popular. For instance, for a photography business, a social platform like Flickr would be more relevant than a platform that did something completely unrelated to photography. This allows the media department to make better use of their resources and time spent on branding their image than if they joined and tried to work a platform that didn’t match the business’ personality.
After identifying the most profitable platforms for money expenses and time investment, it becomes important to work the platforms. This varies according to what platform you choose, but the basics are the same:
- Interact as often as possible, preferably once a day, no less than four or more times per week. This can be managed by one person or an entire media department.
- Post links to blog posts and articles that will appeal to your audience. Don’t oversaturate – just post the good ones.
- Be genuine in your feedback to others. They will learn to respect you and pay attention to what YOU say as well.
What are some things that you’ve done to increase your social networking exposure? What would you as a corporate entity add to the list of things to ensure that your company was successful in the social arena?
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.
