Social media – getting started
I had the pleasure of talking on the subject of Social Media at the SageWorld event thought I would summarise my talk for anyone who wasn’t able to attend. Getting started in social media
Shall we start with a definition? Social Media: Social = sharing. Media = content. It is not so daunting after all.
Let me back up and ask one quick question. Do you have a business plan, a marketing strategy, content, website, web analytics and pay per click? Great then you are ready for social media.
Social media works because technology enables us to meet a basic human desire to create and share our creations be they words via blogs, images via Flickr and videos via YouTube etc
It is built on reputation, that of an individual, a company or a brand. The gap between what/who you say you are and what others say about you is critical – social media will amplify this difference.
Social media will force businesses to up their game as it exposes their failings (or indeed promotes their competitors advantages).
Why take part?
The social media multiplier effect can make you seem bigger than you are (as a business), cleverer than you are (post lots of other peoples quotes) or demonstrate a number of attributes you wish to portray (agile, caring etc). If you cannot outspend your competitors in marketing money you can out manoeuvre them in the world of social media.
It can provide amazing insights
Social media feedback is really honest, really, really honest. Be prepared that customers will not hold back and that can feel a little bit personal when the business is you and you are the business. However these conversations are taking place anyway – it is better to know what is being said about you because you can act on this.
You can start slow and then become more active
Eavesdrop: Listening in is a great place to start. You may not be big enough to register in peoples social media conversations but your industry will be. Let ‘social media eavesdrop’ be part of your research and development plans. Remember the honesty? Track your competitors and see what they are pants at and exploit that.
Get active – once you have listened in start to expand your social media profiles. Optimise your profiles ensuring your website links are on them and complete all the areas. Increase your ‘findability’.
Join relevant groups. Post answers to questions in those groups. Then start asking the questions. Then start creating the groups. One step at a time. This is the way you become regarded as an expert in your chosen area. This is how your business is associated with your expertise. This is what creates your brand.
Fools rush in where brands fear to tread
Don’t panic. You can just listen in, you do not have to take part. Listening in can give you access to some fantastic useable insights. If you do take part do it slowly but commit to it.
Content is king – as you expand your involvement then you’ll need a plan for developing and distributing content. Write a trade press article and edit it down to a web page, then edit that down to a blog post, an email and a tweet. Same content, same tone but multiple uses.
Stop, look left, look right and then cross
So my advice is to listen, consider, plan and then act. Social media is going to be here for a long time.
Download Sage's free guide to social media for small businesses.
Pete Wilson, Digital Strategy Manager, Sage UK
