While developing a plan for face-to-face networking conversations is important, it is also advisable to plan your social media conversations. Social media is meant to be a conversation with your audience that promotes your brand. Having an awareness of hot topics in your industry and especially conversations on top industry blogs can assist you in crafting meaningful conversations with your followers.
Be authentic and knowledgeable
Authentic, sincere dialogue works best. Don’t try to sell your products directly; social media is not the place for that. What you want to do is provide helpful information that demonstrates your expertise and knowledge to your followers. You want to be their go-to person for industry knowledge. To make that happen you need to be knowledgeable, helpful, polite and respectful.
Keep an eye on the conversation
Monitor the conversation and reply promptly to any related conversations. Make sure you quickly address concerns and complaints raised about your company and brand. Provide feedback and answers promptly.
Be positive
No matter what, make sure you stay positive and respectful. This may seem hard at times, but remember that your brand is on the line. How you respond will define the integrity and values that stand behind your brand.
Know your brand
Your brand and brand message must be clearly communicated through your business social media outlets. Make sure you provide focused information that demonstrates your niche and your value. Your content should be tailored to your particular audience.
Stay relevant
The good thing about social media is that you can change as you go. Learn what your followers like and don’t like. Make sure you are providing them with the information that keeps them coming back for more.
Learn from the best
So, who does social media right in big ways? Mashable is one of the top blogs with about 1 million Facebook likes and about 3 million Twitter followers. Why are they so popular? Take a look. You’ll see that they post positive, funny, interesting stories that relate to their followers. They keep an eye out for interesting news and tech related stories and post them to their audience. They’ve built a reputation for being reliable and timely. No wonder they’ve built up such a following.
Click to see Technorati’s ranking of the top 100 blogs.
It is updated daily with the top 100 list. It’s a good place to start to see what others are doing right. Go to these websites and see how they relate to their followers through social media.
Find the most popular YouTube videos
Click to to see which YouTube videos are the most popular. You can filter on today, this week, this month. It’s just another way to see what is popular and trending.
Summary
A successful social media and blogging content strategy can successfully launch your brand into another dimension. Knowing what is working already for other companies can provide you with inspiration for your own efforts.