Up Your Social Media Game in 3 Steps

Your company’s social media shouldn’t be an afterthought.  It should be a cornerstone of your digital marketing strategy.  Many small and medium business owners know that, but don’t follow through enough.  That basically means they are not getting the full benefit, despite making an effort.  If your social media isn’t as effective as you think it should be, you have to ask if the problem is how you are doing it.  Here are three places that are especially easy to let your efforts fall short.  Are you watching the gap or dropping the ball?

• Schedule: Make a schedule for your social media efforts and stick to it. Now, a lot of people think they are doing this because they are posting on social media at scheduled times.  But posting is only one aspect of your social media campaign.  Schedule times to check your messages and reply and to watch for comments every day.  Ideally, you can do this two or three times a day.  But you should check your messages and review comments at least once a day.  If people are looking for a response from you and don’t get it in a timely manner, that reflects poorly.  They will assume that is your approach to customer service in general.

• Share: Not everything you post on social media needs to be original. It will serve you well to share other content.  First, you are supporting other businesses, and they should appreciate that and return the favour.  Of course, when you share another brand’s post, you need to acknowledge them.  Share nicely!  It is also nice to praise other businesses in your field when they win awards or hit any milestones.  Nice brands do not finish last.  Second, it gives you a chance to learn more about your audience.  What do they react to?  What gets their attention?

• Participate: The beauty of social media is that it is interactive.  It’s a place to engage with your audience.  So you need to reply to their comments, chat with them and participate in any discussions that arise in the comments of your posts.  You don’t want to censor people, but you also want to make sure it is a respectful discussion.  If someone is critical of your brand, that’s a chance to step up and show everyone in the discussion your approach to customer service and satisfaction.  But if someone attacks another poster, you are better off shutting that down quickly.  Make it clear that your brand respects everyone.  Disagreement is one thing, but if someone starts using abusive language or calling others names, those comments need to be deleted.  And if you speak up and say that you’ve deleted a comment because it contained abusive language, most people will appreciate it.  And trolls aren’t really your audience anyway, so you don’t need to worry too much about them.

Social media is a powerful tool.  So don’t let your skills rust!  Stay engaged.  Schedule, share and participate actively, and you can expect to see real results.

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