Do you have a social media marketing strategy? Maybe you are on Facebook. Or you Tweet now and then. Is it working? Are you making quality connections and building your brand? Or do you spend more time staring at trending topics than you do on product development? If so, it may be time to evaluate the framework and help make your social media marketing more effective.
1. The first step is determining your identity. Seems quite simple but in the world of social media it’s really not all that simple and most people miss this step entirely.
- Your personal identity: Chances are you have your own personal identity and if you are online with that identity you may have a Facebook profile. You probably connect with some old high school buddies and post pictures of the family. This profile should NOT be used for networking. It just doesn’t work.
- Your professional identity: Most of us have a professional identity in addition to our personal one. You may have your own business, be an entrepreneur, be an independent consultant, or a member of a sales team. You may have a LinkedIn profile. You most likley have this identity combined online with your personal one. Make sure you create a separate professional identity and use that one to connect with other professionals. An example of a professional identity is your name from the business name as in Cheryl Sanchez from TheNetWorks.
- Your business identity: Not all of us have a business identity. This one is generally for business owners but often gets combined with your professional identity. You may have a Facebook page for your business identity. You should have a clearly identifiable business identity. Your business identity should be your business name as in TheNetWorks.org.
2. After you determine your identity or identities you then need to decide where you want to create your profile(s) online. There are a lot of social media platforms available. You need to determine which one(s) meet your needs.
- Is it easy for you to use?
- Can you say what you need to about your product or service?
- What kind of people are on that site? Are they professionals looking to network?
- Does it offer features that help you to market and network?
- Does the site support networking and meeting new people?
- Are there opportunities for both online and in person networking?
- Is there a fee?
- NOTE: If you own a business, your business should have a website on its own domain. Relying on other sites/services is risky - if they shut down (or shut you down) you can be out of business. And, yes, they can shut you down. It has happened.
3. Once you pick your sites, create your profiles carefully.
- Include a picture of you on profiles for your professional identity. People want to see who they are connecting with. Describe what you do specifically. Include your professional contact info (your work #, email #) and make the profile public. It’s not personal and should be nothing to hide.
- Include a logo or a photo of a product for your business identity. It helps to establish the brand identity. Include the main contact info for the business (physical location if there is one, main #, general contact info) and make sure you put your tagline somewhere in the profile. Make sure this one is public, too.
- Use spellcheck!!!
4. Don’t totally forget about the other sites.
- If you decide not to use a particular platform you can still create a profile on it. Just note in the profile which sites you actively use and can be reached on and give the info where they can find you.
5. Make sure people know where to find your profiles.
- Let your existing connections know your have created a profile.
- Include links to your most frequently used profiles in your email signature.
- Consider including links to your most frequently used profiles on promo materials like business cards.
6. Look for applications that help to manage your sites and then connect them.
- This saves valuable time. You can post a status or retweet once and it will update on all connected sites. You can also schedule updates ahead of time.
- Examples of applications are Hootsuite and TweetDeck.
7. Pay attention to what you post and from which identity.
- You should not necessarily post the same status between your different identities. Post a status coming from your business identity (as in “we have a sale today”) and separately post a status from your professional identity (as in “heading over to the store today to check out the sales”). Remember: one identity is a person and one identity is a business.
8. Interact with other businesses and individuals - especially those who reach out to you.
- If someone posts a comment to you or about you then they will expect a response and everyone else on the internet can see whether or not you responded. This is very different than not returning a phone call and can be instantly damaging.
9. One last step that so many forget: make sure your profiles are accurate and up to date.
- Did you move? Change your number or email? Did you post an idea or status or special last month/year that no longer applies? Keep your profiles updated.
Once you have determined your identities and established your framework you then have a solid foundation for social media marketing. Your profiles will be marketing for you while you are concentrating on product development or perfecting a skill. And maybe, just maybe, one of your identities will be the next trending topic.
