It seems as though social media marketing has been “around forever” but many marketers are just now starting to see the value of building their brand on social media.
Here are three helpful best practices for using social media to brand and market your business:
1) Build trust and reputation with respect: This Best Practices page for Twitter is a good resource for someone who is thinking about starting a social media marketing program for their business but feeling overwhelmed on where to start. I like how this list of Twitter rules includes listening and being respectful.
2) Look to the big brands for inspiration and ideas: For those starting a Facebook Fan page for their business, I would suggest checking out the different pages that you already follow on Facebook. Here’s a quick link that will work for a vertical directory of your pages if you are already be logged into Facebook for it. If you’re not logged in to Facebook, you’ll be able to see the top Fan Pages. Great examples.
3) Be sure to focus your efforts on sites that match your target market: If your target market is female and your product has something to do with either decorating, recipes or crafts, consider a Pinterest social media program. Brafton has some best Pinterest marketing practices for your brand for starting your boards and pins. On the other hand, if your target market is content hungry 20-30 something young professionals, then Reddit might make more sense for your brand. Reading the rules of Reddit would be a good thing to review before attempting to post content. LinkedIn has less than 1% of all the social media traffic but is the number one site for business professionals.
4) Get your company some branded products: Companies want as much brand exposure as they can get, this will help get the word out about your company and what you do and will boost your sales too. You can get yourself promotional notebooks that have your companies logo across the front, taking it into meetings, or handing them out to potential customers will get a bigger buzz created around your business, it will look professional and be appealing.
Each media has their own function, best type of audience and best practices.
Feel free to link other social media sites best practices pages in the comments below.
[…Look to the big brands for inspiration and ideas…] I think Dell and Starbucks are good references in deploying smart social media strategies.
Eric:
You are right. Both of them use social media to build a relationship with both current customers and potential customers. Thanks for suggesting them.
Chris
Recent survey show companies are investing more on online marketing and specially on social media. Companies knows the trend that people are spending good amount of time on social media websites.
Wow — thank you for supplying the link to the Facebook vertical directory. I had no idea there was such a tool. Do you know how Facebook determines “my” vertical directory?? As someone relatively new to social media, I appreciate your insights!
Thanks-
Erin Larson, Socialot.com