Social Media & Online Reputation Goals for Business
- Build brand awareness
- Networking
- Gain clients, customers
- Encourage repeat sales of goods/ services
- Grow & maintain business reputation
- Customer service
Social Media Management is Not Search Engine Optimization (SEO)!
SEO and Social Media Management complement & support each other, but they aren’t the same animal. With SEO, you’re dealing with the content people and search engines will find when they arrive at your website. Social Media is how your business goes to the customers and interacts with them on their turf. SEO drives website traffic through customer searches, and Social Media drives interest and traffic through relationships and consistent, direct contact. Social Media Management does help SEO, though!
Why you should get started or step-it-up
Facebook Statistics 2012:
- An average Facebook user has 130 friends and likes 80 pages
- 56% of consumer say that they are more likely recommend a brand after becoming a fan
- Each week on Facebook more than 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared
Twitter Statistics 2012:
- 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter
- 55% of Twitter users access the platform via their mobile
General Social Media Statistics 2012:
- 30% of B2B marketers are spending million of dollars each year on social media marketing
- Nearly 30% of these users are not tracking the impact of this marketing
- 20% of Google searches each day have never been searched for before
- Out of the 6 billion people on the planet 4.8 billion have a mobile and only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush
(Source: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/social-media-statistics-stats-2012-infographic/ )
P.S. check out the link above, it’s a really good one.
Social Media & Online Reputation Management Basics for your business:
- Setup social media accounts and business fan pages
- Claim business pages on Review sites
- Do what works: right messages, right places, right times
- Engage, converse, meet needs
- Inform, be an expert (but don’t claim expertise)
- Be consistent
- Be interesting (Facebook, Twitter, Google+)
Facebook/ Google+/ MySpace: Customers are personal, free-time users, for relaxation, interest-driven, entertainment, deals, bargains, discounts, quick & useful tidbits of information, interesting photos & links, Facebook bonuses, 1-3 messages/ day, nights, weekends, … Sundays are HUGE
Twitter: Business hours, just before or after business hours, targeted help/ suggestions, timely, witty, special deals & discounts, special events, Twitter bonuses, 1-4 messages/day
Yelp/ Google Places/ Trip Advisor/ Foursquare: Thank all reviewers through private messages in a timely manner, reward reviewers through private messages (deal, discount, freebie, etc), positively respond to negative reviews (public relations, offer something, maybe get review updated), Get rule-breaking or unfair reviews removed, daily monitoring & maintenance as needed
Linkedin: Professional networking, industry networking, join industry groups, join influence groups (local, regional, etc.), converse (builds sense of expertise), use as a forum to get & give assistance, recommend your connections (people, services), ask for recommendations, daily participation, 1-2 messages/day
For All:
1. Be CONSISTENT 2. DON’T get stuck in “Marketing Mode” 3. Respond
4. Be a human 5. Play nice/ be gracious 6. Give it time to show results
Some priorities for example businesses:
Restaurants, bars, entertainment: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, TripAdvisor
Professional Services: Linkedin, Twitter, Yelp, Google Places, Facebook, Blogging
Retail: Facebook, Yelp, Google Places, FourSquare, TripAdvisor
Final Tips:
1. Empower the warm, friendly, social employee that is invested in your business’s success to help.
2. Have a schedule, checklist, and plan.
3. Blog on your website (seriously, use the “empowered” employee if you like).
