Tweak Your Biz » Marketing » Two Keys To Social Media Success

Two Keys To Social Media Success

by Amanda Webb on October 4th, 2010
23 Comments



If you are using Social Media for your small business strategy, this post will help you keep on the right track.  Although many companies muddle through without a strategy those who are struggling with social media success tend to fall into two categories.

First is addiction. It’s easy to become addicted, suddenly you will find yourself tweeting every detail of your life and can’t even leave the keyboard without telling your followers why.  You may see your follower count grow but when you look at your twitter stream it is often full of others telling exactly what they just did, business related or not.  People will interact with you but if you are using Social Media for business you need to ensure that these are the right people, that you aren’t just extending the traditional water cooler chats into the Twitterverse.

Second is the exact opposite.  Social media seems like a lot of hassle.  The intention is there but the tasks slide down your to-do list and eventually nothing happens except the odd marketing message about your special offers.

If you are suffering from either of these two symptoms in my experience there are two keys that will help keep you on track.  Even if your not the strategy type sticking to these two guidelines will get your campaign facing in the right direction.

1. Always consider your target market.

It might sound obvious but in my experience the first key to your social media campaign always rests with your target market.  If you know who they are the rest will slot into place.  Consider who are your target market?  Where do they hang out online?

Once you have established this think about what you can post, what links, what information you can share that will reach out to them and encourage them to participate with you and your pages and remember this every time you post.  Always ask yourself if what you are doing is relevant to them.

2. Set your personality free

Social Media is, as the name suggests social. People enjoy communicating with people, this is the opportunity that social media gives us, the same one we get with face to face, offline networking.  Adopting a chatty tone when posting will encourage more people to engage with you.  Think about posting on your social media channels the same way you would think about starting a conversation at a networking meeting.

In my experience these two keys will begin to help you unlock social media success.

What are your keys to social media success? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment box below.



Category: Social media Marketing

Tags: , , , , ,

The Author:

Hi I'm Amanda, a social media consultant and trainer who loves blogging. I work with small and medium sized businesses to help them develop social media strategies that work. I really enjoy developing my marketing and social media skills. I also love cats, cycling and cakes. http://www.spiderworking.com

Read more and connect »

Add Your Comment

  • http://twitter.com/fredchannel Fred

    Welcome to Bloggertone Amanda! Nice post
    Another key, that blends with these two, is thinking about (write a list if necessary) the tasks you develop everyday. Then try to deliver them in a more “social” way. Example: If you answer the same two questions everyday to prospects and clients, it means that’s hot information in your field. Try to explore that subject by writing blog posts (that get index by search engine and more people can find you), doing quick videos, presentation, webinars, etc. In other words, you’d be delivering the same value but now, a lot more people can benefit from your expertise and also find you.

  • http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

    Hi Amanda, it’s great to have you join the Bloggertone community. I have come across some of the social media sounds like a lot of hassle folks recently. I think another factor here is that people don’t really understand what social media are; hence they use them to blast offers etc

  • http://www.sianphillips.ie Sian Phillips

    Great post Amanda. I always think that social media is knowing the person behind the business. And if you like the person you will be interested in knowing what they do and then won’t mind the odd promotional tweet or mention. Indeed they may even help you spread the word.

  • http://beyondbreastcancer.wordpress.com/ Marie Ennis-O’Connor

    This is excellent advice Amanda, based on sound PR principles. Know your target audience is a key principle which can sometimes be overlooked. Once you have identified your audience, then as you point out, provide them with relevant timely information. A successful social media strategy is all about adding value. It is not about broadcasting yourself, it’s about conversation and sharing knowledge.

  • http://www.danielbeereissomeman.com Daniel Beere

    Great post Amanda. Nice one.

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    Hi Amanda,

    Brian Clark (Copyblogger) made a few suggestions that stuck with me.

    1. Look at what others are doing first, see what’s most effective, and then adopt these models.

    2. Instead of calling it social media, treat it as media.

    When you apply the same principles, eg audience analysis etc, then the returns kick in.

    and ‘What are your keys to social media success?’

    I’d say listening and promoting others over myself.

    Those who know how it works, return the favor :)

  • http://www.michaelgholmes.com Mike Holmes

    I like that Ivan…I may have to implement that.

  • http://www.michaelgholmes.com Mike Holmes

    Great post Amanda!

    Personally I haven’t mastered social media so I don’t have any tips. But that’s why I turn to posts like these to get some insight ;)

  • Anonymous

    Thanks everyone for all your comments and suggestions.

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    Here’s the video, Mike

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT_Un8WFfxs

    solid gold stuff!

  • Anonymous

    Welcome to Bloggertone Amanda. Great post. Recently I find myself wondering if Social Media has ‘jumped the shark’, and that the only way is down. However, on reflection I don’t think it’s a case of it being on the way down, simply that eventually it will be treated as simply another media channel – albeit something that makes it much easier to get direct feedback from our customers. This very much is the same thoughts in the advice that Ivan shares.One thing that I always say to people before they venture into Social Media, is that they should first consider what their challenges, pain points and opportunities are. This way they will not end up adopting one of the many tools, and making a pig’s foot of their attempts.

  • Anonymous

    Great insights thankyou :)

  • Pingback: Small Business News: Social Media Best Practices

  • http://twitter.com/garious1 Garious

    I think that the keys to success on any of your social media campaign is when all those friends/fans/followers turn into your brand advocates or loyal customers. This is why it’s so hard to compute social media’s ROI. I guess, if you’re real enough to engage your community, people will flock to you like moths to a flame — then, how can you simply do it on a large scale? I wonder if people even got all the time in the world to get to know millions of fans out there. Maybe, Ashton Kutcher does..?

  • Roisin Bell

    Hi Niall, thanks for your comment. I think Twitter is useful for ‘connecting’ with people and exchanging links to information and ideas, but not so good for communicating. By communicating I mean, contacting them on a business related issue, and exchanging written information.u00a0nnThis is largely because of the length restriction, but also because your recipient may simply miss your Tweet. If they have set up to be alerted when mentioned or DM’d then of course they would get the communication through an email alert, but in this case perhaps you’re just as well to email them? Or IM them? (at least using Skype etc you can tell if they’re present u00a0and available to view your message).u00a0nnKeep an eye out for more controversial Twitter thoughts in my next Bloggertone post!u00a0

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    Sounds interesting! looking forward to it :)

  • Derbhile

    A very relevant post. nI think people get too hung up on the form communication takes place. Who cames what form it comes in, as long as it gets the message across. nI do use Skype instant message for business. People contact me on it to see if I’m available to take a call. And you can see people’s linkedin email addresses if you go into Contacts – My Connections and click on a name. A mini profile comes up with their email and phone number. nnContact is all important. nnBest wishes, nnDerbhilen

  • http://www.videoforimpact.com Peter Fry

    Hi Roisin,nEmail as a means of marketing IS dead! nnRecent studies by Yahoo suggest that asnmuch as 50-60% of marketing emails never reach the desired recipient. I personally sent out 60 by Constant Contact to people I deal with as an experiment and 16 were opened. A week later sent 60 by texting and ALL got the message and 15 responded.nTexting done right is THE way to communicate to ones customers. sendbulktexts.comnnPresenting ones business online has also changed. Words on a website with pretty pictures is the old way, one minute video presentation personalising your business is THE new wayu00a0 videoforimpact.com nnIf I’m looking for a business or service right now I will not go to Facebook (yellow pages, whats that?) nI’ll Google it.nIts astonishing the amount of businesses that know nothing about Google Places. They’ll spend 1000 on a once off ad in a newspaper but when one does a search on Google for what they are promoting they are nowhere to be seen. Yet getting a top natural search is a lot cheaper and in some cases the particular search receives in excess of 10,000 searches a month (e.g. hotels in Galway)nSEO ‘Experts’ push business owners towards adwords (expensive) and when natural search is brought to the business owners attention rather than questioning, they defend their SEO service providers.u00a0 Strange!u00a0 Irishlocalbusinesslistings.com nnnnn

  • http://www.canadaseotraining.com SEO Training

    Its very nice article. the information is great in this article they described a multiple options for contacting with the peoples E-mail is the best option which is always alive in the internet marketing.

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    All very fair points, Alex and thanks for your comment. Another area I think we need to work on with young people is to encourage and educate them around entrepreneurship, I’m not sure what it’s like in the UK but we’re failing badly here in relation. 

  • Conor Hughes

    Really interesting alright!  I’m amazed that our politicians have not come up with something like this before, or am I????

    Well done to all involved.
    Conor

  • http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

    Thanks for the comment, Conor :)

  • Elitespecificconnections joe

    We at elite specific connections think you have a great idea,this is what is needed at the present time.Together we can REBUILD & GROW which is our motto,we are a new company,visit our website http://www.elitespecificconnections.com,we will be recruiting soon

Related Posts


«
»