1.
Be picky about your social media.
Facebook, twitter, Linkedin, Tumblr...
the list goes on and on (and it grows every day.
) You know that your business should have a social media presence.
What you don't know is that you don't have to choose "all of the above" when including it into your marketing efforts.
By choosing one or two applications to start with, you can learn as you go without getting overwhelmed.
Unless you have a staff or virtual assistant devoted solely to managing your social media, scattering your presence across many apps is worse than doing nothing at all.
2.
Choose social media applications that suit your personality and business culture.
Regardless of how popular any one application can be, if you don't enjoy coming there every day, then you'll never use it -- even if you know it's a crucial component of your marketing efforts.
There is one very popular tool, that shall remain nameless, that I don't like using.
I've tried a few times, and can't even force myself to use it daily.
Instead of forcing myself to use that tool, I decided to focus my time on the ones that I do enjoy.
We all have tasks in our businesses that are less enjoyable, but social media should not be painful.
The point of social media is to be social - why would someone continually attend an event that they hated? The same goes for social media.
Find a few apps that suit you, and throw yourself into them.
Learn about your different options and how other businesses and entrepreneurs are using them.
3.
Always remember that it's "social" media.
Your presence should be largely business-social on these sites.
You can absolutely do some promotion, but your purpose should be strengthening your brand, connecting with customers, and drawing new customers to your brand.
Too much blatant selling will turn people off, and you'll lose your audience.
Using Facebook, for example, you'll create a "fan" page.
The concept of "fans", not customers, is the epitome of what you strive for using social media.
Loyal customers are fans, friends of fans turn into fans and become customers.
Use social media to build and strengthen relationships, and the sales will follow.
You can pepper your interactions with items or services that may interest your fans, or followers, but use your discretion as to when you've gone over the line from relationship to sales pitch.
4.
Be yourself...
but don't get too comfortable.
The early business users of twitter had to learn the hard way that there is such at thing as TMI (too much information) when you're building a brand through social media.
The evolution of businesses harnessing social media took them from announcements to clients and potential clients that their "cat just barfed up a hair-ball", and they "just met with a client who had B.
O.
" The former "tweet" on twitter would lose quite a few followers, and the latter resulted in the loss of a client, and perhaps a job.
It's like being a houseguest and being told to "make yourself at home", that doesn't mean to walk around the house in your boxers and drink milk from the carton.
You can be personal and engaging, but don't write anything you wouldn't say to a client over lunch.
5.
Plan your strategy.
Social media may look at first like a disjointed collection of casual conversations.
Don't be fooled by this.
Before you create a profile, or broadcast your first status update or tweet, decide how you will use the application.
What's your goal? Are you creating a presence for lead generation? Customer education? Brand-building? Sales? Or are you getting in because your colleagues have been pressuring you that you have to have that presence now.
You can have several goals, but you'll want to learn ways to stay true to your goals every day when using this media.