Social Networking Done RIght

Who, What, When, Why, and Hows of social media

What is social Networking?

Simple, it’s you connecting with others via the internet. It’s really that simple. You use it more than you think, trust me. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, walls, post, pages, all sorts of ways. So let’s dive in and see what it is, why you need it, and how to use it.

Through out this discussion I’ll be using three main examples. Procella for business to business outlook, TWI for small local shop view, and Ruth’s for an “up-and-coming small business growing larger” perspective.

Who's of social media

Who needs social media? All businesses, really. If all of your customers are online, talking to each other online, and other people around you, then why aren’t you? It’s very simple concept, just interact with your customers and clients.

Now, who is going to do your social media? Who will be the manager, who will post everything? Who will decide what’s posted and when? Most small businesses have someone in charge of it or the owner does it himself. At Procella the owner manages their own with help from tools and sites that consolidate all the pages and profiles together. We’ll get into that sort of thing later on, don’t worry. A local shop that mostly does labor or isn’t tech savvy have others do it for them. Many small businesses will pay a service or other company to manage these profiles for them, it’s not at all uncommon. As for Ruth’s, they have a larger set of employees and appointed two people for all the PR work, including Social medias. It’s really up to you what you choose. What you want, what you’re comfortable with, what you can afford.

Now, who is going to be seeing your profiles? Who are you targeting? For Procella, B2B customers are other businesses and their owners. They focus on interacting with many other businesses profiles and drawing in others that hold higher positions at companies. Their sites and profiles are more professional in nature and have many contact and service oriented features. As for TWI, theirs is used to draw in customers in the area. So they interact with the people in their area, promote local events, and stay more personal and close to home. Their main objective is to catch attention and answer just enough questions to get them to come in. This can be a bit of a trick to balance. If you give up too much they won’t need to come in and see you, but not enough will keep them from wanting to come see you. Try different balances til you find the right one for you. Now, with Ruth’s, theres is more customer benefits and awareness. They sell products and promote products and services on all their profiles. Each site is used to capture attention, intrigue, and keep customers. It’s not too hard to do at all, most companies go this route. It’s a great more time to put in and content as well, but the results are well worth it.

Many of the social sites offer targeted audience adds and services. For instance, you can show ads only in your location area, only to parents, only to males ages 25-55, whatever target you choose. It’s an easy way to hit more possibilities than throwing out a wide net to catch three fish. You instead send a few spears and hit half the group.

What is your social network strategy?

What are the needs of your business and what are you using the sites for? Are you going to use it for more leads? More clients? More exposure? Or just to see how your business is liked by the public? These answers will help determine which accounts you should use and how to use it.

Go through your Social Media Workbook and set up your plan for your campaign. If you don’t have the workbook, here’s a simple outline to try first.

1. Know your goals & objectives
2. Know Your Audience
3. Know your “big button”
4. Know your competition
5. Know how to interact
6. Know your outlets & resources
7. Know your results

Now that you have your strategy, let’s go deeper. I’ll be using a campaign we’ve run before as an example. “Halloween Costume Contest” was the campaign (Referred to as CC or contest also). Our main objective was to gain more leads which results in more customers. Our goal was at least 100 submissions with over 70 leads, would result in at least 15 new accounts. Our audience was open to anyone around our area, about a 50 mile radius of the office. We made sure to make it kid and family attractive as those are the most likely to submit an entry for a costume contest on Halloween. We made sure to focus on work places as well, our main clients. Our “big button” or niche was the prizes and fame. We made sure that everyone had some fun and exposure from the contest whether they entered or just voted. Our competition was a few other local businesses doing similar contest. So, we made our completely virtual and extended the deadlines past Halloween to gain more entries and give participants a sense of relief that they can not worry about it before the holiday, and not even bother on the holiday itself. We interacted by commenting on the pictures, constantly sending reminders, and even posting a few of our own. We used outlets like facebook, separate page on our website, twitter, instagram, and even our blog. We made sure to post it to anywhere we had a profile and even with other clients on their pages or profiles. The results were great in our entry numbers, as well as results from the leads. So, we are doing it again this year. Because we had a plan, followed it, and tracked results, we were able to do it again this year with little to no problems and on a larger scale.

With your plan, you must keep your expectations real, stay focused, and remain consistent. These are the three greatest keys to your social media success.

Now, what media outlets are you going to use? There are many to choose from, so I’m going to do a quick run down for you on the different ones and what they do.

Where to socialize

• Facebook- This is the largest and most used site in the world. You can create a page for your business and run it from anywhere in the world with huge possibilities. It’s easy to use, great for anyone, and widely accessed.
• Twitter- Also a major giant in social media, this micro-blog is great for keeping track of on-the-second news from your customers and partners. Also, you can share news as it happens for customers to see right away. Great for most businesses, especially with those many customers and frequent changes.  
• Instagram- This photo based site is new for most business owners, in a way that we never really marketed before. Imagine posting a picture of your product within minutes of it coming in for stock, your customers knowing only minutes after you. It’s practically free marketing (and who doesn’t love that).
• Foursquare- This is a mobile interface that shows you the businesses around you. Although popular among many people, numbers are declining lately. I would be cautious in spending too many resources on this one, but can’t hurt to at least to be listed.
• LinkedIn- A huge mogul in the professional social circles. Here you can have a personal and company profile to network with others you know and meet more. An amazing tool for B2B companies and those working in consulting and freelance.
• Pintrest- This pinning site has become huge with many users now. Known for its incredible popularity with families and homemakers, it’s now a great tool to organize a micro-blog.
• Google+- This rising superstar is becoming more and more popular as well as more adaptable for businesses. You get a profile, a place to video/chat “hangout”, and even apps just for businesses from Google.
• YouTube- More and more people are jumping on the YouTube marketing bandwagon. From a funny commercial to informative short film on your company, these videos are gaining more and more momentum. We recommend trying out a few first to see your results before you hire and cast and crew though.

When to socialize

So now that you have your plan and your profiles, when are you going to start? Right away or wait until later for a more formal launch? Will you have daily updates, weekly, different time formats? These is where it can get sticky and frustrating. I always recommend using an editorial calendar. If you don’t know what that is or don’t have the workbook with one in it, here’s a free template to download. It’s best to set up a schedule and stick to it.

How to socialize

Be sure to keep a balance. Don't be afraid to get a little personal, but not too personal. Your customers don’t need to see a cute picture of your dog or know how your workout went. But, they want to know who is coming and going from the store and what you think about their same interest. It can be a bit tricky, but I recommend laying down some rules that help you determine what should be shared and what shouldn’t. Share photos and videos, but no office parties. This is where your rules will really come in handy. Make sure your sharing isn’t going to hinder your business image and reputation. Set privacy settings, but don't be a blank slate. You should make only certain things readily available for the people that “like” or “follow” you on your sites. But don’t keep all the content away from visitors. Finding a good balance will bring in visitors and turn them into followers.

Make sure you’re interacting with your public as well. Comment on other users' content or profile posts just because. Don’t paste your own things though, make it about them. Ask questions on your wall and respond to the answers. Be sure to reward those who participate to encourage future participation from them and others. Posting links or threads to your other sites or website is a great way to interlace your social media and create a larger presence.  Posting relevant events to your area and your business type will help build that “real life” community. But don’t just post the event details, show up. Take pictures, then share those with a discussion of the event. Make it benefit-based for your customers, IE free dessert when you like us, 10% off when you tweet from the store, 5 foursquare check-ins gets you a half off coupon, etc. Talk about new or uncommon features that you have as compared to your competitors. Include some discounts and savings randomly to excite and keep them coming back for more. Don't continually have sales-related messages, it gets old fast. Don't set up an expectation, then cheat on it. You promise something, follow it to a T. Don’t lead them to a dry well. If you work hard to get your public to your social sites, make it worth their attention!

Please note that this is a condensed and quick version of our Social Media Workbook. This book and its components are encouraged with this article, though not required. For a more detailed and in depth social media strategy, please visit our Procella Store. Thank you!