12 Steps to Social Networking Success
by Dawn M. BarclayStories abound of businesses building their brands, attracting leads and understanding their markets through social marketing, but without a clear strategy, social marketing can simply be a waste of time and effort.
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Cameron Toth, chief connection officer at Toth Communications and the social media chair for MPI WestField’s chapter, said that each of the three major networking sites offers different benefits: Twitter to scan a lot of diverse information very rapidly, Facebook to establish fan pages to promote a brand, and LinkedIn to establish credibility with the help of third-party recommendations.
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It’s important to tie your messaging together, advised Greig Wells, director of social marketing for Social Media Magic, a consulting firm for online marketing and interaction. Wells suggested using a Facebook fan page to point a target market to your company blog or contest, encourage discussion and explore targeted advertising opportunities.
Here are 12 tips from the experts:
1) Determine your objectives. “Think about goals and objectives upfront. It might be to market your product, build relationships, to be viewed as a knowledge leader in your field through informed postings or just to monitor what’s being said about you or your company,” said Toth.
2) Set your strategy. Wells suggested a four-part strategy consisting of establishing an online presence, expanding your reach, nurturing your relationships and properly maintaining your presence.
3) Be deliberate with your time. Determine what you want to get out of your time online and don’t try to read every article you see and be in all of the networks at once. “Social networks can be a time suck if you let them be,” Toth said.
4) Select your networks. You want to be on the same networks as your current and potential customers, advised Toth. Search for them on the major sites. ‘Google’ the names of your clients and see if a LinkedIn or Facebook account comes up and then set up your accounts and profiles accordingly, Toth said.
5) Concentrate on prospects. “Join the same groups as your target audience,” said Wells. Spend time with prospects, not competitors, and listen to their interest and issues. Then, you can invite these prospects to your group.
6) Prequalify your audience. Wells advised marketers to make sure they’re reaching the right audience. For example, he suggested starting a group with the words “Join this group now if you want to (know, learn, do)…” so you’re filtering your audience to consist of just your target market.
7) Use the tools. ‘Search.twitter.com’ is your friend, said Toth. By entering terms you want to look for in the search box, you’ll get more up to date and relevant information than by “Googling” which might result in listings that could be several years old. It’s a great way to see what others feel about a particular travel product or destination, he said. He also advised creating a facebook fan page, noting that it’s just a matter of uploading a picture or logo and entering some text in pre-defined areas.
8) Converse in the right circles. If you’d like to “tweet” or post some current information about yourself, your services, a vendor of interest or a relevant online article, send it to the places where your prospects might be looking, Toth said. By ending your “tweet” with appropriate keywords or “hashtags”, you can store them appropriately. These hashtags might include #meetings, #conference or #eventprofs. Look at these posts as starting points for future discussion. “You have to both listen and engage,” said Toth.
9) Don’t promote, educate. Be aware that if marketing your business is your ultimate goal, it will take some time. “Look toward ROR — return on relationships, rather than ROI — return on investment… because people tune out online advertising,” said Toth.
10) Don’t sound like a press release. Similarly, it’s important not to spam with constant links to your company Web site, either in tweets or private message, Wells said.
11) Be active, not reactive: “If you spend your social networking time reacting to others’ comments instead of making your own, you’ll have lots of activity but no results,” said Wells.
12) Don’t go in blind: Work with someone who’s had some experience in social networks, be it a friend, colleague or a consultant, Toth said, noting that a consultant can help you establish an online presence, rather than just learn the ins and outs of the various sites. He said that consultants can run as little as $30 an hour and some will base pricing on results rather than just a per-hour basis.
Editor’s Note: For a limited time, Greig Wells is offering readers free access to his recent Webinar “Capitalizing on the Conversation” at http://www.socialmediamagic.com.
