Social media marketing is an evolution. It’s a different way to sell things and there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind…

1. Don’t overdo it.

2. Be respectful of your network.

3. Share valuable content occasionally.

There you go. These 3 guidelines will give you a pretty solid social media strategy. Read them again because I see far too many businesses who don’t “get it”.

Ignore these guidelines at your own risk; your efforts will probably backfire.

Don’t Overdo It

If you’re posting more than once a day you’re overdoing it.

I’ve seen a lot of small business owners start to develop a following, get some responses and engagement from them and then get really excited about it. That’s natural, when building up a business every bit of positive feedback is exciting!

But in social media, less is often more. The goal is to keep in touch with your contacts and earn their trust over time. You want them to remember you and be receptive to what you have to share or say so you can develop the relationship with them and eventually earn their business or get referrals from them once they trust you.

Guess what happens when you flood their feed with several updates every day?

They block you or remove you. You’re spamming them.

Provide Value to Your Network

Remember that I’ve chosen to connect with you. I’m looking for things that benefit me, so if all you’re doing is wasting my time then I will get rid of you. You should never be posting more than once a day in the first case and even that’s probably overkill.

Remember that old saying about having two ears and one mouth? There’s some truth in it and if you don’t have something with value to share then you probably shouldn’t post it.

Remember, social marketing is not the same as sharing cute pictures with your friends on Facebook. You’re a professional who is trying to sell a product or service and you need to work to build trust and be taken seriously.

Why are you undoing all of your hard work?

Let’s look at it another way. You’ve worked (or even paid) to build up your network so why are you driving them away? I see the same thing happen with businesses and customer service or problem resolution.

Stop and think about what you’re doing for before you hit that button.

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Social media today presents entrepreneurs with a pool of opportunities to expand their businesses and boost their profitability. Most social networking sites were initially meant to help friends and relatives connect with each other online. This is still a core function even though businesses are increasingly exploiting the connections to advance their business objectives.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and others are great platforms for small businesses to not only expand their businesses through conversion of the connections to buyers, but also essential tools that businesses can utilize to handle their customer care services. Engaging with the customers on the social platforms helps understand their needs better and improve on service delivery.

Closely connected to customer care representation is the crisis management role that social media play. In the recent past, social media has helped both SMEs and multinationals effectively handle different crises. One major mistake that many businesses commit when faced by a crisis is failure to acknowledge. The truth has some funny way of sneaking from closed door board rooms to the public domain. Your competitors can take advantage of any crises you may be facing and blow them out of proportion for their own benefit. If you have a reasonable social media presence, let your customers understand that everything is under control.

One of the main areas that small businesses have made good use of social media is in advertising and marketing. It is pointless to produce, if you cannot sell. To sell, you have to advertise and market. Initially, companies had to use television, newspapers or other conventional media to get the information about their services and products out. This was an expensive exercise as not many people could afford. As a result, competitors applied monopolistic practices and unfair competition. Today, all you need is a reasonable number of Facebook fans, twitter likes or YouTube views and you can both advertise and market your products and services at minimal costs.

Of great significance to social media users is the high conversion rate. It is far much easier to convert your followers and friends to buying customers. People who follow you on twitter must have interest in your product. Therefore, if you are launching a new product, they are likely to be interested in the same. Any serious business must include a shopping cart on their website. You move the traffic from either Facebook or Twitter to your site, let them explore the products and services, and allow them to make an order and pay online. Running a small business is now easier and any determined entrepreneur can do it with little capital.

To get the best from social media for your small or medium enterprise, you must lay out a plan. Do you really need to join social networking site? What is the goal? The objective may be for promotional purposes, customer relations, marketing and advertising, sales, among others. The goals have to be measurable. The most important question however is, which of the many social networking sites is fit for your business? To answer this, consider reviewing where most of your customers belong. To stay safe, use more than one, have a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account for a start.

Finally, ensure that the social media accounts are professionally managed. Keep your connections up to date with the goings in the business as well as social issues.

Lee is a competent writer who has experience in many forms of business. His articles are opinionated, informative at at times controversial. His honest approach is designed to assist the reader in making informed decisions on areas very important to our daily lives. For more information on how to use Social media to enhance you SME as well as Search Engines optimization, visit GenZ Web Solutions today!