Category Archives: Social Media

Should Companies Ban Social Media Among Employees?

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should companies ban social media?

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more companies here in Malaysia putting a barrier around their employees, preventing them from accessing social media tools within the premise. While some go about a complete ban, some left room for the marketing department to roam about freely.

Is that a good move?

It is fully understandable that social media tools especially Facebook, Twitter and blogging can be a huge time waster at work. Employees may be playing games, chatting away or busy updating their personal blogs instead of being ‘productive’ at the workplace. It’s no wonder why companies have to resort to a complete ban.

However, it is also interesting to note that some of these companies are supposedly customer centric, saying that they listen to their customers and etc but at the same time, staying out of social media. Strange indeed.

Blogs (social media) doesn’t get people fired, people get people fired. – Deb Schultz, Altimeter Group

To me, social media should not be banned in a company at all. Instead, companies should establish clear guidelines on how social media can be used. Companies such as Dell takes social media very seriously and goes to the extend of training their employees in this area and they have been utmost successful.

IBM takes a different approach by allowing their employees to write their social media policy for them. Sounds absurd? Not really, considering the fact that since the employees will be the ones using social media, they should be the ones setting the guidelines. In fact, they are more likely to keep to it if they formed it themselves. Plus giving your employees this liberty may cultivate an innovative culture in your company.

Some companies don’t even have rules to regulate social media usage. They simply let their employees do what they like, as long they perform in the end.

So.. What’s the Conclusion?

There is really no hard and fast rule in implementing / regulating social media in a company. I really do prefer both Dell and IBM’s way of doing it but it also depends on your comfort level as a business owner in the industry. Remember, social media can act as both an asset and a liability to your brand. Experiment with techniques and find out what’s best for your environment – social media only works when you try.

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 2)

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Now that you’ve understood why blogs are vital to your business instead of having a traditional website, you may have in mind to make full use of them to sell your products and services, perhaps even going to the extend of writing 1-page sales pitches that may have worked for you in the past.

Unfortunately, sales pitches does not work on blogs – especially when you’re just getting started.

Why Don’t Sales Pitches Work?

Blogging, or rather, social media is not about sales. It’s about customer engagement, it’s about relating and listening to your target audience and to have a human presence. Customers today do not want to be sold to – they want to be heard. Writing a full fledge sales pitch will only drive people away than to convert them.

Err.. But Isn’t It All About Making Sales?

That may be true for your business but on social media, I personally believe that sales is secondary. Yes, you would ultimately want to convert customers and make sales but upright sales pitches would do more harm than good. There are, after all, various ways and techniques of conversions on social media.

leading the pack with your blog

How to Make Sales With My Blog? Here are 3 Steps to Get You Started!

#1: Give and you shall receive

“What? I thought we’re talking about making sales!?”

Yes, we are – the long term yet effective way and blogs are just the right medium to do it. Provide value to your readers consistently to establish your own presence first. Write about what you do best, industry updates and share your experiences with past clients.

During this stage, you’re actually creating a platform for your business to reach out in the future – take time in doing this as it is your biggest asset!

#2: Create exposure

“Oh come on, get on with the sales already!”

Blogs can give your business an exposure beyond traditional means. With the amount of blog syndication tools out there and with search engine optimization (SEO), the amount of exposure is massive. Now, all you need to do is to create opportunities (or window opportunities) for sales to happen.

Some use exclusive offers, contests, VIP passes, weekend giveaways and more to gain more exposure AND create an opportunity for your audience to get to know you better through your products. In other words, you’re creating leads for sales!

#3: Promotion

“Are we there yet?”

There are various ways of promoting your products / services through your blog and one of the common ways of doing so is by producing an e-book. An e-book allows you to pack more of your expertise to your audience, benefiting them and at the same time, creates an opportunity for you to upsell your products. It can be a seminar, workshop, demo sessions, trials and more.

So, What About Sales?

As you can see, social media is an excellent tool to drive sales and increase conversions, especially with blogs. If you’re STILL looking to make plain sales out of thin air for your business, then perhaps you may want to consider other alternatives :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 1)

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If I had to pick which social media tool is the most beneficial for businesses, I would say BLOGS will come first. Nevermind whether it is Blogger, WordPress or the likes – blogs, in general is perhaps one of the most important social media tool for businesses today.

Why Should Your Business Blog

Your business may have an active Facebook or Twitter page going but like it or not, Facebook and Twitter are great engagement tools and not necessarily the best tool in disseminating information and content, especially chunky ones to your customers.

3 Reasons on Why Your Business Should Blog:

1. It is your HOME BASE

Traditional websites are slowly moving into a blog environment because businesses see the value in providing consistent updates and additional value to their customers instead of having a well designed, static information website.

Having a blog (or in this case, the centre of content) can act as the primary place of information for your business where you can share what’s happening behind the scenes, updates on upcoming plans, interesting news and even insights in the industry your business is in – basically content that adds value to your prospects and customers.

Are you driving your customers home?

Combine this with your engagement tools such as Facebook and Twitter, now your fans and followers will be able to find out and benefit more from you. This can easily be done by including a link to your blog on tweets and status updates.

Find out more about having a home base here!

2. Expert in the field

Now you may think that you can also establish a home base with a traditional website. True, but one thing blogs triumphs is that through your sharing of content, you are able to change the perception of your prospects and customers towards your business.

How so? A traditional website focuses on designs to create an impression. A blog focuses on content to create an impression. Which lasts longer? Blogs. The more valuable content you put out, the more your target audience will be able to know you and that builds a relationship that your competitor may not have with them.

Everyone is an expert - all you need to do is shareIf you are in business, chances are, you have tons of knowledge and experience in you. If you’re able to share them, that alone will make you an expert in the field – especially in the eyes of your customers. Customers value valuable content and transparency as it also influences buying decisions.

For consumers that are new to your business, a blog will be able to reflect your knowledge and experience in a particular field and in some cases, how active your business is by looking at when was your last update.

3. Low Cost

Guess what, you may already have been blogging and you just do not know about it. You may have been ‘blogging’ on advertorials, press releases, media write ups, newspaper columns, magazine columns and etc to position yourself in the market.

If you’ve been there, you should know that chances like that do not come by very often and sometimes it may cost you. If you’ve haven’t been there, you should also know that such opportunities may not be easy to find and that it will also cost you.

By having a blog, you have these opportunities every single day, at no cost! The only evident cost is your time. Your time to put together your thoughts, research, pen it down and to publish it online. Other than that, it’s literally free!

So, Why Blog?

Given the benefits, why NOT blog? I strongly believe that every industry will be able to benefit from having their very own blog. After all, wherever there is knowledge to something, there is definitely something to share from it, and blogs are the place to share them.

Have blogging been beneficial to you or your business? Do share them by commenting below! :)

Is It Possible to Hire a PR / Young Person to Manage Your Social Media Presence?

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I’ve been noticing this as a trend lately that’s happening in many companies and businesses within Malaysia. Young grads are being hired for a specific job to find that they are given an additional job description – to manage the company’s social media accounts.

Is this really a smart thing to do?

A young person usually spends their entire day on Facebook, Twitter and blogs therefore they are great candidates to manage the accounts, isn’t it? WRONG. Though it may be true that they are technologically savvy, this does not automatically makes him or her a social media expert with the required capabilities to take on your company’s social media presence.

Likewise for PR Managers, they may be really good at what they do but this does not automatically makes them a social butterfly online. Plus, PR Managers generally have extrovert personalities so keeping them behind a screen to socialize may not work as well as you think it would.

Insisting on using them?

I would not go down this path but if that’s the only choice you have, consider looking up their backgrounds or throwing them a test before adding it to their job description. Check out their Facebook, Twitter and blog accounts to see what they usually talk about (you may even find that they are active only on Facebook games).

If you find that they are actively participating in chats, sharing informative contents, retweeting, creating content and etc – Congratulations! You’ve found your man (or woman)!

If you find that they are actively chatting casually, sharing random contents, talking about the bits and pieces of their life, mostly participating in games and etc – You may not want to bestow them your company’s social media accounts.

What should be done then?

The best for the job is definitely a social media manager or consultant that specializes in social media. One that does not only have the knowledge, but also with the experience to generate ideas, execute and creatively engage with his / her network.

There are tons of articles out there listing the various areas to look for in a social media manager so I won’t go into the details but most of them concur that he / she must have some past experience in the field. It can be personal experiences, various projects / campaigns or past / present clients.

Also, do not hesitate to probe questions to test their knowledge in the field as knowing these can give you an ease of mind and somewhat gauge the potential results thus evaluating whether he or she is worth your money.

So, is it really a ‘no’ to hire a young person / PR to do the job for me?

Never :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Offline Operations

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“Is online / social media alone the way forward for your business?“

Being a huge believer of the importance of INTEGRATION instead of implementation, my answer to that is NO. Businesses today are too caught up with the ideology of social media but fail to realize the huge potential social media can bring when integrated into traditional marketing efforts.

It is important for businesses to realize that social media integration does not mean that by having social media presence everything will fall into place. If you take a look at same of these real life integrations of social media with Facebook and Twitter, you’ll find that these companies are successful online because they managed to integrate it into existing OFFLINE business operations.

Here are some integration ideas for you to maximize your marketing potential:

#1: EVENTS + SOCIAL MEDIA

5 Ideas on how to enhance your events with social media on MashableHave an event coming up soon? Whether it is an exhibition, launch or a regular meetup / happening, explore how you can spice up your event with available social media tools. You can use Facebook to share photos leading towards the event to build hype and organize giveaways; use Twitter to share real time updates on what’s happening on the scene and behind the scenes, facilitate tweetchats or setup a Twitter wall at the event with a contest mechanism to build followers; rewarding visitors that check in to your venue on Foursquare or even a treasure hunt!

There is a timely article written on Mashable yesterday on this very topic with 5 ideas on how you can enhance your events with social media. Click on the thumbnail to check it out!

#2: ADVERTISING / PROMO + SOCIAL MEDIA

promotion and advertising on social media

You have a new product or service and is wanting some follower / fan love? Facebook can be used to disseminate information regarding your product or to give out demo units; if you have an existing network, identify strong personas and request for them to review your product and service on blogs; use Twitter to it’s fullest potential by sharing exclusive deals or twouchers (vouchers) to start a string of retweets; perhaps the mayor on Foursquare entitled to a VIP-class treatment of your service?

#3: CUSTOMER SERVICE + SOCIAL MEDIA

customer service on twitterI can’t stress the importance and the effectiveness of customer service using social media. The more active channels you make available for your customers and prospects to approach you, the better.

The 2 common mediums are Facebook and Twitter. If you can capitalize on these 2 you should be in the run of something good. Do not leave questions unattended for days, reply to every enquiry within 1-2 hours consistently and your customers will find GREAT value in your service.

One thing to note is that you should never, ever give out inconsistent / inaccurate information on social media as you could cook up a storm in a matter of minutes, especially if you have a huge network.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even use Twitter to take orders for your business like Coffee Groundz did!

#4: ON-SITE INTERACTIVITY + SOCIAL MEDIA

Who says social media are only limited to virtual interactions? Coca Cola brought the ‘like’ feature on Facebook to life! Check out the video below to see how it happened:

I agree that this setup can be a little too complicated for some to take on but it sure triggers some simpler ideas. A giant photo tagging wall or a mini wall in front of each exhibitor for visitors to ‘post’ on, the only limit is your imagination :)

Have you come across any interesting social media integrations into real life (offline) operations?

Do share them here!

8 Grave Misconceptions About Social Media

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8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media#1 It’s a Fad

Many people still think that social media is just a ‘phase’ and sees social media as secondary – especially businesses. The truth is, social media is here to stay and businesses without a presence will eventually lose a competitive edge against their competitors who are actively on social media. Why?

“Social marketing eliminates the middlemen, providing brands the unique opportunity to have a direct relationship with their customers. Bryan Weiner, CEO at Digital Agency 360i”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#2 It’s About Having Social Media Profiles Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn

Having a profile is just the beginning. It takes time, dedication and commitment to truly harness the benefits of social media. It’s all about building a network online just like how it is traditionally such as through networking events. Attending networking events alone won’t work – you need to communicate, build relationships and engage.

“Social media is like building muscles or running a marathon – results don’t come popping up, it’s long-term but all worth it.”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#3 It’s a Numbers Game

Somehow we tend to take numbers too seriously. The number of followers / fans / friends do matter but the question really is: how engaged are you with your followers? Are they paying attention to what you have to say? What is your true reach? In social media, it’s quality over quantity for followers.

“Please Repeat: Influence is NOT Popularity! Brian Solis, briansolis.com”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#4 It Takes Too Much Time

It takes time, yes. Too much time? It depends on you. It can take as short as 30 minutes a day or the entire day and you are in control of it. The best part about social media is that it is flexible and accessible anywhere as long you’re connected to the web. If you carry a smartphone with you, you can even update on-the-go! I spend about 1 – 1.5 hours daily and random updates throughout the day.

I don’t know about you but to spend only 1 hour daily to stay in touch with your prospects and loyal customers sure sounds like a killer deal to me!

“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable? Seth Godin, sethgodin.typepad.com”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#5 It Takes an Expert to Do It

If you can handle the computer, surf the web and create a Facebook / Twitter account without much trouble, congratulations, you’re made to be on social media! Too easy to be true? Well, the secret ingredient is PASSION – if you are passionate of your business, all you need to do is to KEEP IT REAL with your followers and fans. By doing so you’ll be putting a human face to your brand, a strong connection to build brand loyalty.

“Don’t worry; skills are cheap, passion is priceless. If you’re passionate about your content and you know it and do it better than anyone else, even with few formal business skills you have the potential to create a million-dollar business. Gary Vaynerchuck, garyvaynerchuk.com”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#6 Guaranteed Results

Do you really believe in guaranteed results? I don’t. Being on social media won’t bring in immediate sales. The same applies to blogging: you won’t make money out of it immediately. Again you’ll need to flex those muscles before you can experience results. Keep your eyes focused on the goal and run (or jog) towards it – just don’t give up!

“Remember this: social media is NOT about profitability. It is about constantly engaging and creating loyal customers that will create revenue for you in the long run.”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#7 There is no ROI to Social Media

Does it ring a bell? Most businesses just don’t see how social media can be measured hence taking it very lightly. ROI can be quantitative, using various metrics tools such as Google Analytics to identify bounce rates, demographics, length of visits, page views, unique visitors, number of followers, impressions and etc.

You can even take it further by comparing these metrics with the number of conversions on your sales, subscriptions and more! It can also be qualitative by comparing responses gathered through surveys and behaviors and converting them into metrics that matters to your business.

“Ultimately, social media creates conversations and involves human interactions – that can build your brand. How can you quantify that? Traditional media takes you no where near that. It’s priceless.”

8 Grave Misconceptions On Social Media

#8 It’s Not for Every Business

To date we’ve seen consultation firms, marketing agencies, F&B outlets, hospitals, lawyer firms, telecommunication companies and almost every other industry, both big and small, young and old, involved in social media. The social media is for everyone – including your business. Sure, the integration can be tricky for some but its definitely possible – it depends on how far you want it to go.

“You can’t tiptoe into social media. You have to jump into the pool. People have a natural fear of it. But the scary part is not being there. Your customer is already there. Dave Saunders, madisonmain.com”

Have you came across any other misconceptions on social media? I would love to hear them, too!

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 2)

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Social media in business

So you’ve seen the benefits of Twitter and now wanting to be part of the Twitter community but have no idea how to? If you’re absolutely new to Twitter, check out this step-by-step video on how to create your very own Twitter profile for your business:

Congrats with your Twitter account! With that covered, we will now be looking at some real life implementations on how business have use Twitter to their advantage:

1. Levi’s

@levisguy - an ordinary guy in an extra-ordinary positionLevi’s knew what they wanted to do and achieve with Twitter. They wanted to target the young male demographic which eventually led towards hiring Gareth as the @levisguy to share behind-the-scenes stories at Levi’s events and updates on new products.

Why is that so significant? Levi’s knew what it takes to create a bond, a connection with their fans. By hiring someone in the same demographic, he will be able to speak the same language the fans speak, allowing him to spur conversations about topics that matter to them, such as the latest fashion trends – without being awkward.

2. Dell Outlet

dell outlet - “offering relevant information that people are interested in is key.”

Dell understood what they need – they need a tool to get the word out fast due to their nature of business. They went on Twitter and have not turned back ever since. On Twitter they realized that people are interested in talking to them, asking questions and sharing their experiences, both good and bad.

“Offering relevant information that people are interested in is key.” – Stephanie Nelson, Dell (Austin)

With that, Dell now concentrates on interacting with people while keeping deals to a minimum to avoid spamming. Those are not ordinary deals though, they are exclusive, Twitter-only deals which has received very positive response having booked more than $3 million in revenue attributable to its Twitter posts. They minimized promotions with their followers in mind but offered exclusive deals whenever a post is due – 2 birds in 1 stone.

3. CoffeeGroundz

coffeegroundz - "this is what social media is meant to be." - J.R. Cohen

This is perhaps my most favorite integration of Twitter in a business! Unlike other examples, CoffeeGroundz is an independent coffee shop in Houston that sells a variety of locally roasted coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches and the likes. Being new to Twitter, it took J.R. Cohen (General Manager) awhile to grow the number of followers on Twitter organically – and that changed everything.

Cohen took Twitter 1 step further by asking his followers from Houston to “come into the store and ask for J.R.” He will then take the opportunity to meet with each and every patron who asked for him by name! He created an opportunity to strengthen his bond with his followers, going beyond mere online interactions.

“This is what social media is meant to be.” – J.R. Cohen

What makes things even more interesting is that in 2008, one of CoffeeGroundz’s regular customers requested to place a ‘to-go’ order for a breakfast wrap. It is argued that Sean’s request for an order ‘to-go’ was the first of its kind on Twitter. And because Cohen is an avid user of Twitter, was able to reply quickly to Sean’s requests. With this reply, he implemented a whole new way to place and receive an order online, reserve tables and book the place – through Twitter’s DM service. How awesome is that?

4. DiGi Telecommunications

DiGi Telco

Sad to say that there are only a handful of great Twitter integrations in business back here in Malaysia. Businesses here seem more inclined towards Facebook but here is one that caught my attention – DiGi is seen using Twitter primarily to receive feedback, complains, questions and to provide support to their customers. In some cases, I was told that DiGi also offers special compensations and exclusive offers to dissatisfied customers on a case-by-case basis.

Apart from that, it also acts to humanize the brand by interacting with their followers by posting birthday wishes and replying to what others are saying about the brand which definitely adds a human touch to the brand.

Moving On!

Hopefully the above examples are able to give you some idea and insights on how you can get started on Twitter. Remember that it takes time to get it right so don’t be too worried if you’re doing it wrong or disappointed with the initial results.

If you’re sitting there thinking that Twitter is not suitable for your business

or your customers / prospects are not on Twitter and never going to be on Twitter, you should really take 4 minutes off your time to check out this video:

On the other hand, if you are having trouble thinking of running out of things to Tweet, I recommend reading this post here by @AskAaronLee, a social media addict with tons of experience and things to share about Twitter. I’m sure his post will help you just fine :)

Do you have an example that you would love to share? I would most definitely want to hear from you!

Why Create a Custom Twitter Background?

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While most Twitter simply choose their backgrounds just for it to look pretty, many individuals and businesses have taken advantage of the background to simply express, promote or introduce themselves beyond their 140 characters description on their profile.

new twitter layout

Now you may have heard people saying that the #NewTwitter is a pain for many as there isn’t much space left to play with on the sides, or that 75% people access Twitter on 3rd Party Applications (e.g. TweetDeck, Hootsuite, etc) therefore cannot see your profile. Don’t get me wrong – those are facts.

It is true that most people access Twitter via apps to UPDATE their status (Tweet) but however, bear in mind that there are many that accesses the web version to check out your profile page if you’ve followed them on Twitter.. simply because Twitter drops an email notification with a link to your profile. Not to forget, you would be leaving your Twitter links on your blog, company website, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn or any other profiles for that matter – This alone is a good reason for a custom background.

If you haven’t already have a custom Twitter background, you should start having one for yourself as:

1. It Leaves a Lasting Impression

For both individuals and businesses, a well designed background shows a certain degree of professionalism and that you care for details – thus leaving a lasting impression on the viewer. This is exceptionally important when one is viewing your Twitter profile for the first time.

2. Branding and Promotional Opportunities

Your Twitter background can also act as an extension of yourself. Use it to your advantage by putting up more information about you, portray your brand identity, promote your products and services or even express yourself as a creative individual / company. In other words, is an free advertising space that you should make use of!

3. Stand Out

Capturing your audience’s attention is important on social media and unless your have a very captivating write-up about yourself in 140 words or valuable Tweets, chances are, it will be difficult for one to differentiate you with another unless he or she knows you personally. Your background can make a world of differences in positioning yourself different on Twitter. Remember, it’s either you stand out or lose out!

My advice? Use your custom Twitter background wisely :)

Want to Get Started but Don’t Know How?

Click Here to Get Started on Your Own Customized Twitter Background with a template I created!

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Twitter (Part 1)

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A couple of weeks back we looked at how Facebook can be integrated into today’s businesses as an effective engagement platform. This time round, we’ll be looking at a famous micro-blogging tool called Twitter. Bear in mind that neither Facebook nor Twitter can cancel each other out – they each have their own unique advantages in which you may want to use to YOUR advantage.

Evan Williams and Biz Stone - Co Founders of TwitterWhy Twitter?

Though Twitter only allows 140 characters per update (called a Tweet), Twitter is now second to Facebook in terms of it’s usage. People seem to get along with Twitter pretty well as it is simple and straight to the point, unlike Facebook where distractions are aplenty. If you haven’t heard, Twitter is said to have about 2.1 million new users per week – a huge pool of potential opportunities you would not want to miss (click for interesting stats).

Awareness of Twitter vs Facebook in the recent years

If you’re still scratching your head at this point, check out this simple video explaining Twitter in plain English:

Now that you’ve grasp the concept of Twitter, let’s look at 3 areas on how Twitter can benefit you and your business:

1. Collaboration and Networking

Twitter is a great way of keeping in touch with contacts and obtaining new contacts. This is simply because you (and others) can easily look up fellow users that have the same interest / industry by searching keywords that relates to you and your business. Do it right and these networks can eventually lead to new ideas, collaborations and even partnerships that can be beneficial to both you and your business!

2. Personality and Connectivity

For some reason, Twitter is seen to be a more human approach as compared to blogs and Facebook pages. It adds a human touch to your brand and a face to your business. With Twitter, businesses can now engage in conversations directly with their followers and listen to their tweets – which is priceless to a business. You’ll now get to hear what your followers (if you follow back) are doing, what are they talking about, where they are heading to and etc, allowing you to get to know your followers better.

Remember on Facebook pages, you won’t know what’s happening to your followers if you don’t add them as a friend on your personal account (which you may not want to do so).

3. Research Tool

I must say that Twitter is an excellent research tool for your business and equally informative as Google. How so? Twitter is able to show results of conversations (Tweets) regarding your keyword from all over the world! You can also gain insights to trending topics globally to see what the world is Tweeting about.

Imagine looking up keywords that relates to your business – you may find interesting Tweets talking about their needs, their wishes, feedbacks, rants, competitor’s product and etc. Yes, you’ve gained access to voices from real people across the globe!

What’s Next?

We will once again be looking at some examples on how Twitter is implemented in businesses worldwide along with some real tips on how you can do it too!

Why Do Fans Subscribe to Your Facebook Page?

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Now that we’ve looked at why fans unsubscribe (unfollow) your Facebook page, let’s check out how were they converted in becoming your fan in the first place:

Why do fans subscribe to your facebook fan pageLooking at the results above, 75% of the attraction should come from you. This shows that fans are still attracted to what you can offer them by following you and 75% is huge! This also means that attraction strategy is vital to motivate fans to follow you, debunking the myth of “the word will spread just being on Facebook”. See what existing businesses have done to command attention on their Facebook page.

These three “conversion points” pointed out by the survey does not end there. It actually creates a guide on how businesses and brands can create their own social media strategy to MAXIMIZE RESULTS and leverage upon ALL three points above by including:

1. A Driving Vehicle

This is the actual promotional campaign and most businesses are capable of this pretty well – Facebook links plastered everywhere, ongoing contests, weekly giveaways, sweepstakes, webinars, exclusive contents and the list goes on; which is perhaps why 75% of the people are attracted to subscribe to you – you’ve captured their attention. Now what?

2. A Reason to Share

You’ve attracted the masses and now it’s the time to tap into your fans’ networks! Give them a reason to share you with their friends. Organize a bring-a-friend day to your shop, reward active fans, provide quality content or outrageous offers – anything that involves people getting people. Get them involved, create conversations and get your fans to co-promote. Remember, it’s a world-of-mouth on social networks!

3. An Edge to be Found

This may be a little trickier than the above but not the least important. This approach has the potential to draw in those that may not be active on Facebook, those that are skeptical of advertising and even those who think Google is the Internet. This strategy utilizes external resources to draw attention to your business.

This can be done by participating in forums, discussion rooms, local happening sites, blogs and microsites. Also if you’re familiar with SEO, it will definitely provide an additional edge to be ranked highly on search engines. These avenues creates additional content over the internet providing more information and value to your prospects / customers / fans.

The Social Media Strategy

There are tons of ways going about in social media and there really isn’t a perfect formula to success. Every business and brand has to take time and effort to identify what works and doesn’t for them. However, keeping in mind the 3 Conversion Points above in your social media strategy should assist you in what needs to be covered and done.

Click here to check out the ongoing social media series for more social media insights for your brand!