Developing the Social Network
Are you frequently discovering new customers or clients have pre-knowledge about you and your company by the time you review the first email or phone call regardless of whether or not your business actively participates in Social Networks?
Do you know where the information was found? Is the sentiment of the information positive or negative?
Was it an offline marketing promotion or was it due to an Online Social Networking?
The sheer volume of social networking site memberships is clearly enough of a reason to either implement or review the effectiveness of your company's Social Media Marketing Program. Reviewing some of the basics is the first step forward.
From the beginning
Where are your potential clients and customers congregating online? Finding out where your future customers are visiting online is simple, after all regardless of where people congregate on and off line for common reasons such as: family, special interests, work associations to name a few. Getting to know your online environment is time well spent.
Joining a few relevant groups, following people of interest on Twitter and Facebook and then standing back and observing is a great way to determine what the network discusses and also what is deemed as acceptable behavior, What is considered normal in online networking and what is considered the norm in-person can vary considerably.
For example consider your reactions to a total stranger approaching you on the street and saying "Hi. Would you like to be my friend?" The first reaction to this might be to wonder about the person's sanity. But check your in box in Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter you probably have a number of requests from total strangers and this is considered acceptable by the community.
Clearly businesses must understand the nuances of the various Social Interactions. Often the similarities and differences between on-line and in-person is subtle, emphasizing the advantages of listening and observation to be the first part of your Social Media Marketing Program. One step wrong can leave a lasting impression in the Social Realm.
Engagement Begins with Listening
Listening provides an abundance of information. Social Media enables you to listen to your consumer, your competitors and lets you keep up to date with the latest industry trends. The information available to you online can be used to gain competitive advantage in your niche. Time spent listening is time well spent. Before you can begin to contribute content to the social mix, you must have a clear understanding of the state of current conversations.
A tool like Uberview enables you to track down the thought leaders and others talking about issues important to your business through keywords search. For business, Linkedin offers and immense range of tools also supported by keyword search enabling you to monitor the latest trends and opinions within your industry.
Time to join the community
By now you should have a good understanding of your audience, what they are saying and where they are saying it. Now comes the time to engage your community. Ideally you want to create an environment where you're sharing knowledge and experience for the betterment of the community. This can be done many ways, answering questions and joining in on discussions on Linkedin or sharing an informative Blog by Tweet or re-tweet. It's the beginning of a two way engagement and bridging the gap between buyer and seller.
Time to be friends
As previously mentioned engaging with participants online is much more casual. Just ask, in most cases many of those networking with you will remain at most an acquaintance. At times the engagement progresses to an email, text or a phone call, all the time building the relationship over a period of time. Just like off-line.
Friend and Network Requests
Asking for people to network with you online is an everyday occurrence, no one these days is surprised by networking and friend requests. Think about some of the friend requests you have had. On Linkedin it is so easy to click a networking request with a canned request. What's your response to a canned networking request compared to a quick personal invitation?
A personal invitation is so much more appealing and likely to get noticed. So take the time to write a brief note to make your networking request personal. Also, don't forget to respond to the network requests with a small personal note. All potential networking opportunities have the potential to be the starting point for an important contact.
Become a content publisher
Up to this point participation has been a gradual process and you are now becoming a member of the community. It is now time to think like a publisher to further engage and attract contacts who are potentially valuable clients and partners to your business.
Start taking a proactive role, begin discussions, created a group, become a thought provoking Blogger (not easy), get your message out there, share your experience, knowledge and opinions with your community. Become the go to person who can assist with business and informational needs.
Once you are a publisher the engagement increases, much of the activity is now moving from the Social Network site to your company's web site. Becoming a publisher also creates a greater need for commitment, not only for content creation, but for ensuring the conversations continue to grow.
The Last Word
It takes time to build your online visibility and associations. A progressive approach for both implementing or reviewing Social Media Programs provides a positive ROI in ways which are not always tangible.
Setting goals, listening to reactions with tools like Uberview, monitoring connection requests and monitoring your web site traffic are simple effective methods to provide an indication of how your Social Media Programs are performing.
