When I talk with businesses about social media I see one of two reactions to it:
The first reaction I see is one of resistance and fear. The new technology seems intimidating and the idea that the business needs to learn how to use social media to promote themselves, on top of whatever else they do just feels like one more task on top of an already sizable list. These people feel overwhelmed and also simultaneously hostile and resigned to social media. What they really want is someone who can explain how to use it and make it more manageable for them.
The second reaction is one of confusion and over eager enthusiasm. These are the businesses that have jumped on the bandwagon of social media, without developing a consistent message or strategy for using social media. Their use of social media is either inconsistent, or worse they come off as spammers. They don’t really understand why they aren’t getting responses from people, and are starting to get frustrated by using it.
Both reactions are valid ones to have. The problem, however, is that businesses approach social media with a desire for an automatic guarantee of business, but often don’t implement the strategy or tactics that will allow them to actually get business from social media. They also get caught up on the technology, while forgetting that the technology is only facilitating communication in a different medium.
Ultimately the problem boils down to developing a realistic social media marketing plan that allows a business to successfully communicate with people in a consistent and non-spammy way. To create such a plan you’ve got to spend some time answering some questions that can help you figure out what social media sites you should be devoting your time to.
The first question to consider in your social media strategy is simple: Who is your ideal audience/clientele? In other words, who are the people who come to you and what problem are you solving for them? You’ll want to spend some time looking for specific patterns for these people, such as age range, what kind of business or profession they are in, do they have hobbies relevant to what you do for them, etc. Until you know your audience, you can’t really know if they are on social media sites, and just joining any old site won’t necessarily put you in touch with them.
And added question to ask is: Who are my power partners, aka, the businesses that tend to refer clients your way. Again identifying these types of businesses may be very useful in determining what social media sites you should be on.
In part 2, we’ll discuss the next question to consider in your basic social media strategy.
[...] Basic Social Media Strategy [...]