When Facebook and Twitter shot into the social media stratosphere, their respective impacts on the business world weren’t a serious issue. With people tweeting about their dinner plans or posting pictures on their wall, the economics of these sites didn’t factor in. Flash forward a handful of years and Twitter is boasting half a billion users worldwide, with Facebook at 955 million users. Given those numbers, social websites have solidified themselves as valuable marketing tools in which companies using them to maintain a digital presence need to pay attention to some critical statistics.
Make It a Community
Expand the social networking contacts through different departments or key personnel. It is impressive to have the president of a company with his own active Twitter page, promoting the company and keeping in contact with followers. Expanding the social media contact adds to the Internet presence, reports Bostinno.com. Pay attention to how many different segments of your company are active on the mainstream sites, and which pages get the most activity.
Take a small web design firm that includes three key personnel. The graphic designer can have a blog, Twitter and Facebook site, but so can the programmer. Separate pages provide personal contact for complex companies like Lifelock.com on Facebook to create promotions and generate leads specific to their role.
Wall Posts
One advantage social media sites offer is user interaction. You might be surprised to find out how many wall posts on brand pages get no response. That sends the wrong message to current and potential customers. If a consumer asks a question that fails to get an answer, everyone can see it. Facebook is an extension of your company’s customer service, virtually tending to your customer needs.
Monitor the wall and provide responses as often as possible. Mind Jumpers suggests making an attempt to maintain a response rate of at least between 65 to 75 percent. The more responses, the better the message even if the answer is a simple “Thank you.” Every byte matters when dealing with the public.
Trending Topics
Twitter trending is a powerful business tool. Consumers will go to Twitter and search for information on a brand name or service. For instance, someone looking for identity theft protection might look for keywords or trending using the Twitter search function.
Businesses can monitor those trends to pick up potential leads. When you see the search come up, you have a new potential customer who needs to interact with you. When a certain topic starts to trend, jump into the conversation. If you take part in discussions regarding your business niche, you establish yourself as a quality, and legitimate, source. Before you know it, consumers are coming to you looking for information.
The key in building a digital foundation and growing on that base is balance. Staying connected and informative can be the difference between expansion and killing your own mission. Keep promotional posts to once or two a day to avoid becoming a nuisance to customers without allowing them forget you. Knowing the right amount of posts and interaction will help in growth and faith in your business.
Authored by Alan Bryan. Born and raised near Silicon Valley, Alan’s parent’s had high hopes for him. Those hopes did not include gaming. Fortunately, Alan was able to channel his love of gaming into a career as a journalist…focusing on gaming. Both Alan and his parents have accepted this compromise.
