If you’ve dabbled in any social media spaces yet, you’ll know that it’s easy to lose track of time. As in any community offline, like a sport or hobby group, you’re as equally like in an online community to enjoy yourself and before you know it: you’ve whiled away the hours, feeling that you haven’t achieved anything other than a few good conversations. Time that you’d intended to use for promotion has frittered away and you now have a backlog to deal with as well as a guilt trip.
So how do you best spend time in an online community to benefit your organisation? I’ve picked out three of the top tips to help you on your way.
1. Have a plan
Just as you have your business and marketing plans, have an online promotional strategy too. Identify your market segments and plan to connect with them through their preferred online community. When you know which space is right for you and your customers, it helps you to be strategic with your activities.
2. Work to a schedule
Just as you set KPIs and schedules for other business activities, set them for your social media space(s). Have a plan of action for what you’ll communicate and when; tie it into your other promotional activities to gain some leverage. Make communication in your social media spaces a planned activity that’s just another one of your regular business tasks.
KPIs might include the number of leads you obtain from a certain space, the number of reTweets you earn, the growth in ‘followers’, the increase in hits on certain website pages (test by running a campaign on a specific service or product with a link to a dedicated web page, then monitor your website analytics to see what response you get).
Note: don’t downgrade the quality conversations; they may not turn into immediate sales but can be valuable for building rapport, engaging prospective customers and attracting referrals. People do business with those they know, like and trust.
3. Monitor and adapt as needed
Social media is an ever-changing landscape with technology developing faster than ever. Stay focused on your plan of action and monitor everything. Trial and test various approaches. Use the results to adapt your efforts; target the activities and approaches that do get results for your organisation.
In earlier years, you’d be lucky to see one or two technology developments in your working life cycle; today it’s a frequent occurrence. It’s ‘just life’ these days and so is constant testing and adapting.
History has proven that businesses which adapt to market changes and continually reinvent themselves, survive. Social media is here to stay so you may as well take the opportunities it can provide your business.
Clarity Press provides writing, editing, proofreading and publishing services to all sized businesses in most industries. Enquiries to Managing Director Gina Gray on 0431 850 754. www.claritypress.com.au
© Gina Gray, Managing Director, Clarity Press
