Social networking platforms are extremely powerful tools when put in the hands of capable business marketers. Capable of reaching a wide and vast audience, sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ make it simple to stay connected with customers and disseminate important promotional or commercial information among them.
However, there is a fine line that must be walked when conducting a social media marketing campaign. After all – these platforms began as strictly social endeavors and have since expanded into the commercial realm. This means that users, even if they use them quite a bit for commercial purposes, still must conduct themselves in a socially defined manner. Here are some tips for doing so.
Invite, don't preach
Part of the beauty of social media services is that they facilitate dialogue. No single message or interaction is intended to be one-sided. Rather, it is expected that, to some degree, there will be back and forth sharing. Unfortunately, many companies seek to use sites such as Facebook to broadcast news and dictate to followers and friends. This can be very ineffective because it doesn't invite customers and clients to say anything or participate in any way. Given, news of a promotion or discount may be intended to draw consumers to an actual store or office, but there must be value on both sides of an online interaction.
This means that status and group messages should be invitations. Questions about who will attend an event or sale (or take advantage of a discount) and why are much more appropriate than announcements that are blasted at anyone within (figurative) earshot. Using Facebook as a bully pulpit is a sure way to be de-friended by clients and customers who have lost interest in frequent and obvious marketing ploys.
Reward followers
If a client or customer is following another commercial entity on social media websites, the odds are good that they see value in doing so. When announcements of discounts or invitations to join organizations in some capacity can be easily learned by going into a store or office (or by reading a company's website), they take on much less meaning.
Instead, give Twitter followers or cohabitants of a Google+ circle their due and reward them for staying in touch. Special offers and deals are a great way to inject some value into an online relationship and ensure that it continues, regardless of what goes on in the real world. Even the sharing of links, videos, photos or other multimedia can be reward enough, assuming that these things provide at least marginal value to customers.
Synergize platforms without being repetitive
When companies have multiple active social media platforms, it is very tempting for them to re-use content and media across them. Of course, it is important for large events and significant promotions to have their associated press and marketing materials coordinated. However, consider that many customers and clients will have access to many of these outlets simultaneously. Consequently, they will quickly tire of seeing the same thing on each of them every day.
Additionally, each social media platform, by and large, has a different purpose. Twitter, of course, is limited to only 140 characters and can only externally link to outside sources. Announcements are much more appropriate on this sort of service, though limiting tweets to such things will quickly become boring and stale for readers and followers.
Facebook, on the other hand, can offer much more freedom in terms of the sorts of media that can be shared. Video, external links, connections to other users and many other things can be included in a typical message or status. Consider considerably fleshing out these sorts of posts, in contrast to what appears on a Twitter feed.
