I was honored to speak a few weeks back, at a Chamber of Commerce event on Social Media Marketing. The audience was small business owners and marketing and public relations professionals looking at incorporating Social Media into their marketing plans. What I found interesting was how many people were using Facebook and Twitter, but they were not tracking their online activity or did not have a Social Media strategy incorporated in their marketing plan.
The first thing that I tell business owners and marketing professionals is to make sure they have their Facebook page set-up as a business page and not as a personnel page. I still still a lot of business who have it set-up improperly and it is a pet peeve of mine. I cringe every time I see a person become friends with a business on Facebook instead of “liking” them.
I encourage them to ask their clientele what networks they use and what they are looking for. Send them a survey and really get to know your clientele before developing your Social Media strategy as the survey will tell you what networks to use, what clients want specials, what want product details and such.
Your company’s social media strategy must include your mission, goals, how many times posts should be made, who should be making the posts, who the back up person is to make the posts, a calendar for what you are posting and tracking mechanisms that will be used. Your strategy will be fluid, so be prepared to adjust it monthly. I recommend reviewing it weekly to make sure you are following your strategy. Do not be afraid to adjust it and make changes if something is not working.
Finally, TRACK EVERYTHING!! Every post that you make, whether it be on Facebook or Twitter, you should be tracking to see if it is working. I will discuss tracking more in depth in another blog post but if you use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck for Twitter posts they have tracking built into them. Facebook offers stats for all business pages, another reason businesses should have a business page and not a personnel page.
By doing these simple things, your company will be on the right path to Social Media Marketing path.
