Member Article

Social media: basics for business

Kate Slater, Managing Director of Kate Slater PR and Marketing, gives Bdaily the lowdown on social media and provides her top 10 tips for success.

Marketing and PR in 2011 has little room for the corporate pronouncements of old and marketers, sales and PR professionals can no longer get away with only blaring out one-way information at an audience.

We live in an open society. Knowledge used to be power. Now sharing is power. The driver of our marketing activity in the future will be the consumer rather than the marketer.

Two-way communication directly with the consumer is the “new normal” and using social media to achieve this for your business is simple, inexpensive, quick and effective. Via Twitter, Linked in, Youtube and Facebook, you can form sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships with

-Potential clients
-Existing clients
-Stakeholders
-Potential employees
-Publications and journalists
-Stakeholders
-Local community

Social media is also a great opportunity for businesses to gain real-time feedback. You can find out what people are really saying about your products or services…..and act upon it accordingly.

Another powerful benefit of online networking is the improvement in your website’s search engine ranking as your network produces links from other sites.

But perhaps you’ve already started social networking for your business and it’s not bringing results? Here are some tips to get you up, running and reaping rewards:

1. Don’t just push your own agenda. Social networking works best if you contribute regularly and help other members of the network.

2. Be patient. It takes time to build relationships and reputation. Online PR and social networking both benefit from a slow-burning, indirect approach and requires commitment and patience. You won’t see results overnight.

3. Don’t be boring! People will only follow or engage with you if you are a valuable contact with something to offer them – so give advice, engage with people, comment on others’ posts and ask questions.

4. Get the essentials right. On your profile, tell your reader who you are and what you do as succinctly and clearly as possible. Include a link to your website.

5. Brand your profile. Most platforms allow you to change colours or add background images. Use your company livery to reinforce your viewer’s connection with your firm’s brand.

6. Adjust your tone to the medium. Don’t be jokey on a serious business networking platform such as LinkedIn, and don’t be wordy and self-important on a personal networking platform like Facebook — you will look out of place.

7. Don’t sell. This is not the place for a stream of high-pressure sales messages. Promote your services occasionally but this should not be the main event. Far too many people get this wrong

8. Show up regularly. It doesn’t have to be every day (although that helps). Consistency is all. Check what people are saying about you often and reply promptly.

9. Fill in your Twitter profile completely. You have about three seconds when people check you out so make sure you write it well.

10. Time management. It shouldn’t take too long. Either stick to set times of the day when you do it – ie first thing, lunch time and last thing, or keep it open all the time and occasionally glance at it. As a general rule try not to let it take more than 30 mins a day.

Social media enables us to build sustainable relationships between consumer and brand owner. Businesses succeed by being responsive to what people want. Social media gives us the tools to find out what that is, and lets us communicate our messages however we wish.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kate Slater .