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How Not to Waste your Time with Social Media

04 Jul, 2012 | 0 comments

Social media is a waste of time.

To understand what you’re going to get out of anything, you first have to have goals just to measure whether your efforts are successful. If you don’t, you’re racing down the highway toward your unknown destination: You’re lost, but you’re making great time.

But let us explain how you can achieve great results for your business through social media marketing.

All day you are so busy delivering products, enhancing customer service, doing business management and doing things that keep your business progressing. You have very limited time and you cannot afford to waste it. But the truth is many small businesses are wasting time by not engaging fans.

The typical small business Facebook page is like a house where people are invited but the house has no props or attractions to play with. So, people leave, and never come back.

Social media requires a commitment and a plan, just like anything else -  you can't just do it a few times and expect results!

Social media is a powerful marketing platform and as time is ticking, more users are getting used to it. And, social media marketing is: Exceeding customer expectations, often but not always, in the online world, through human connection and relationship building.

The marketplace has changed. Customers are now in control, not the marketers. You can’t treat social media like TV, newspapers, or billboards.

You cannot succeed by saying, “I want a blog” or “We need a Facebook page”. If you set it up and forget it, you are wasting your time. But you can succeed by saying, “I want to engage my customers using social media strategically”.

Let us run you through the necessary steps to be successful on social media:

Focus on the right channels

Rule of thumb: Be where your customers are!

First answer these questions:

• What social sites do your customers use?
• How do they use them?
• Where do they turn to research your product?

Once you answer these, you will have clear insight about what social media sites you should focus on.

For instance, you want to push happenings within your organizations in front of your customers, you should pay attention to Blog and have it connected with Facebook and Twitter. The moment you publish something on your blog it goes into Facebook and Twitter.

Be in the shoes of your customers

Always think how your customers will react to your Facebook status updates or posts.
Your talk is only meaningful, when you put your customers first.

To start the process, post something you feel is relevant to them – if they like it, you should mark it as a successful post and keep posting the messages with same approach and tone.

Give & Take

Deals, special offers, sweepstakes, and giveaways are the top most reasons why people become friends with brands. When they feel pampered, they love to share it with their friends.

All we need to do is make them feel special and motivate them to share the good news with their friends on Facebook and Twitter. With all this in place, people start buzzing about you, and it will increase your following fast, and it’s the most cost effective method than that of traditional marketing.

Keep it fresh

Communicate fresh ideas every time you talk. If you keep repeating the same talk, your followers will get bored. Diversify your posts. Mix it up nicely with visually appealing pictures, humor, and candor.
Launch a contest or sweepstakes. Let them publish pictures of their family and friends using your products.

Manage your time or outsource

Your followers want to hear from you every day and you have to keep them engaged, and this requires time investment.

Setup a social media calendar. Follow it every day. If you don’t have the time for it, outsource it to social media agency but make sure they are on the same page with you, and more importantly make sure that they can communicate with your audience in a professional way.

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