Feeling Social? 6 Pointers for Dipping Your Toe Into the Social Media Marketing Pool

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Being social with social media
Being social with social media

Meet and Greet

  • Social Media Marketing is about conversations and connections not advertising. Don’t hawk your wares, converse. Think of it as a business cocktail meet and greet. Meet people, ask and answer questions, don’t sell.

Talking Points

  • Talk like your audience. Spend some time on the social media site you are planning on becoming a part of. Learn how your target audience is talking and talk like them, not like an advertiser.

The Buzz Factor

  • Learn to converse and never shout your marketing message in the social media environment: it’s a sure path to failure.  You need to create an acceptance and a connection with your audience and provide value to whatever network you are joining them in. It is about building the relationship and through that brand acceptance.  Done right the social media connection begins to create its own internal buzz driven by members/fans and this translates to real world sales. When they are looking for your type of products or services they will come looking for you.

Beauty is In the Eye of the Beholder

  • On social networks your visual presentation should reflect the style and aesthetic of the sites members. Make your presentation match the environment, but be careful to not stray too much from your core.

The Real Deal

  • You MUST be genuine in social media marketing. Be authentic and humanize your brand. If your brand is about being a bargain alternative or discount brand you can’t position yourself with a polish and flash appearance in social media. It will ring untrue and backfire on you generating negative feedback and buzz. Stay true to who you are.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice…

  • When opening yourself up in social media you inevitable will get some negative feedback in such an open environment. Accept that, deal with it creatively, and simply move past it. Trying to block it will only lead to a backlash in more open places like blogs, personal profiles, etc… Whatever you do don’t limit conversation.