Know your strategy and understand what you wish to accomplish on social media (SM). I’m sure you’ve heard all the things out there that say,”social media is just a waste of time”. Well, guess what, it can be if you let it. When you have a strategy to get started with SM you will be starting down the path of success. Questions you can ask yourself that will assist…
1. Do you know what people are saying about you online? When you have profiles on the various social media platforms you are able to see who is talking about you, what they are saying and whether or not it’s good. Your SM profiles give you a way to find out, see what’s happening and see what’s going on in reference to you and your business
2. What is it that you’re trying to achieve? Your overall business and brand strategy needs to be thought out before you get online. Once done, you will easily be able to decide where you’ll be able to add value to your business. If you have a brick and mortar business, the methods to add value are different than someone who has an online business.
For my business it doesn’t matter whether you live in Canada, the United States, Australia, or England because a lot of business can be done online.
3. You need to be able to measure whether or not it’s working. The measurement techniques with social media are going to be a little different because you’re not always going to be able to count widgets or people. Sometimes you are going to have to find different methods of measuring. Experimenting with SM is important for your own health and the health of your business.
There are so many different options out there with social media, and knowing what tactics are actually going to help you achieve what you want is pretty critical. That’s one of the reasons it’s a really good idea to engage a social media strategist before you get started.
You need to be able to track and measure your impact. It doesn’t make sense to track how many Twitter followers you have if you’re not getting any results from Twitter. It doesn’t make sense to track how many people “like” your Facebook Page if you aren’t engaging them. You want them to come back, check things out and interact.
Make sure that you understand what you want to get out of social media, because yes, it really can take a lot of your time if you let it. When you know what you’re doing, you have a strategy, you adapt that strategy on a regular basis, you’re going to have success. You’ll be able to do it in a fairly short amount of time per day.