Happy Easter!

In this episode I talk in depth about social media. Everyone says “social media” but what does that mean. My definition is quite simply – social media is an engaging conversation on a public network. Although it’s simple to say and easy to define, many find it challenging to follow the right people, what to tweet about,  how to engage customers, etc.

In this episode I share my tips and advice on using the big three – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as part of your social media strategy.  In future episodes I will share my tips on LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google +.

First step in using social media is to listen

Find where your niche business is talking. It might be on Facebook but not so much as Twitter. Two tools I recommend for you to listen is Google Alerts and Twitter Search.

Next Step is to Plan

Set up a plan for social media. What are your goals. I recommend that you don’t haphazardly create accounts and hope one sticks.

Why Those Three Social Networks?

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are the largest social networks. You can reach a massive amount of people within each network. But this takes time and energy. Social media is a marathon not a sprint. Be true to who you are – be engaging, entertaining and interactive.

Twitter

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Twitter despite its reputation and the potential to ruin a company with one tweet is still, in my opinion a necessity for your business. This week I spend a bit more time on branding your Twitter account, and what to tweet about.

Twitter is not only a great for social media and engaging with your customers and colleagues but can also be a great monitoring tool using Twitter search and it’s real time data mapping. Using hyper-local apps like Twittelator Pro and Ban.jo can be helpful for the security team at large public events. Other apps mentioned to schedule your tweets are Twuffer and Buffer.

Lastly, as I fun way to remember do’s and don’ts of Twitter I run down my Twitter Commandments.

Facebook

Facebook is not just for finding your old high school friends. It is great platform for your business and your brand. Start by creating a Facebook page, brand it with the large cover image and the apps tabs below. Start connecting with like minded people, groups and other pages.

Create a fan or business page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Set up a Vanity URL for your personal timeline or your business page: https://www.facebook.com/username

Manage your Facebook privacy settings: http://youtu.be/vTcCPhtdd2g

Facebook Ads are a last resort to get likes. If at all possible I recommend you get likes organically. Start with your friends and colleagues, website, blog, newsletters. Promote it everywhere.

Keep business separate from personal by using lists. Always think before you post.  Remember the people who hire and fire are looking at Facebook and other social media sites, so be careful what you post.

YouTube

An enormous video repository. 1 hour of video posted every second! I share working examples on how you can use YouTube to your advantage – whether it be promotional, classroom type, how-to videos, YouTube is the place to post them first.

You will need the basics – a camera, a mic, and video editing software but after that use your imagination to create useful videos for your community, customers or clients. Remember to use keywords and phrases in your title and description to help your videos to be found by your those looking for it.

Tubemogul is a free service with which you can disseminate your videos to many different video directories such as Veoh, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Vimeo, etc.

Use YouTube analytics to monitor your success or failure. Make multiple videos using different style types. You will make mistakes and it can be intimidating to film yourself talking to the camera and opening yourself up to criticism.

The post All About Social Media! What Is It and How It Can Work For Your Business appeared first on Strategic Marketing Solutions.