SOCIAL MEDIA AS A BUSINESS TOOL People are becoming more aware of the usefulness of the social media as a business tool. Social media has gone beyond just being present or registered on the social networking sites. It involves reaching your target audience/market, meeting and keeping in touch with prospective clients or customers, and an avenue to form good business relationships. While planning to use the social media as a tool to help in developing your business, there are quite a number of things to consider. Below are seven key points that could help create a solid social media campaign for your brand or business: Know your voice and fine tune it In a world where there are many voices – the struggling and the heard – you could easily get drowned in the multitude of voices and really lose the individuality of your brand. The business world is a ‘rat race’ they say, an entrepreneur needs to admit that the first and most difficult competition he/she has is within. Before venturing into using social media as a tool for your business growth or development, you have to consider your brand or business values and how to best use and integrate it into any online social community without loosing your image to the trends. Your number one goal as a business in using the social media isn’t just to grow a large fan base, but to reach the right targeted audience and also attract the right clients and partners possible. I have taken note of some businesses or brands around some major social networking platforms, where in the quest for quickly gaining fans or followers online seem to loose focus of actually reaching out to them in light of what they have to offer. Yes, a fan engagement strategy should be put in place but it could be wrong to assume that the higher number of fans one has on social media the better for the business. While, as a business owner, you engage fans with all sorts of contents and activities that do not sell your brand to them, it is advisable that you strike a balance and don’t get carried away. Know your voice and how to communicate it authentically across all social platforms. Define your audience/customers You should have it at the back of your mind while you consider using the social media as a tool in enhancing your business that a truly worthwhile social media engagement goes beyond having a presence on all the available social sites. Have you considered how, where and when to reach them via the chosen media? Determine your prospects and customers and figure out where they are, know how to reach them and be there. What works is determined by these three things; time, place, and the people. Being everywhere can be a futile waste of time and effort! Ensure your social media strategy is in line with the goals of your business Having a social media programme without attaching it to some goals creates unnecessary work for you and it is very easy to get off track on the main purpose of using the social media for your business. The basic question you should ask yourself is “how do I want to use the social media to help my business?” then, “What goals would I achieve through this means?” genuinely answering these questions would help keep you focused on becoming successful at social media engagement. Make your goals concrete, realistic, measurable and achievable as possible, and then you would not have many problems integrating the use of the social media to help you achieve it. You have to ensure that social media strategies exploited are in line with your set goals, objectives and aims. Integrate your social strategy with all other marketing/publicity efforts Although social media remains cost-effective medium of communication for promoting businesses/brands, and supposedly one of the best ways to reach your targeted audience, it is very important to have other marketing strategies. E-mail marketing, mobile marketing, print and broadcast media. The social media should be a complement to all other forms of marketing and outreach efforts and not the only marketing medium. Proper social media integration with other forms of marketing and publicity effort ensures a cohesive brand. When planning a social strategy for your business, there are few things to consider; manpower and budget. Managing a social media platform isn’t as easy as most people think. Sometimes you’ll need extra hands on deck. If it’s for startups, SMEs and a one-man-business, it could be solely managed by an individual effectively. But with a larger business size or if you can afford the funding, it’s not a bad idea to have a team managing it. A robust social media strategy is useless if you don’t have the right manpower to run it. Plan your social strategy according to your resources! Embrace your true fans In the course of using the social media, you would earn some very loyal fans. That’s a great thing for you to hinge on, you need to make them know and feel valued. Rewarding them is a great idea, there are many ways to do that. It could be granting them a tour on your facility, or giving free gifts. The best form of publicity you could have is one that comes from a sincere fan, it’s a great opportunit,y for you, do not miss it! Have Fun Yes as simple as it sounds, you need to flow reasonably with the tide. While you use the social media as a business tool, don’t forget the “social” aspect! That’s the idea! Be free, love it and have fun! #Uchenna Innocent (innocent@idopubnaija @innoSaint_uche)
Posted on: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 09:19:38 +0000
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