Social media is an incredibly useful channel these days for your internet marketing efforts. And you’re probably using it wrong.
Do you use your company Facebook to playfully wish happy birthday to your assistant? Maybe you Tweet how lucky you are to have “such great coworkers?” Or you periodically wanna ‘spice things up’ on your company LinkedIn, so you share a cute meme on the latest social issue? Do you feel the need to share with the world your company happy hour on Instagram of your drunken staff having a raging great time?
Stop it.
No One Cares if it’s your Aunt’s Birthday
As mentioned above, social media is an incredibly useful channel for driving commerce. It’s how a good percentage of your potential target audience might interface with your company. And it’s up to you what kind of picture you paint of how you run your company.
You want to portray to your audience an impression of industry knowledge and authority. And instill in your target demographic a sense of confidence, influencing their decision to do business with you. This can’t be done posting cat memes, polarizing political commentary (PLEASE don’t discuss politics) and work anniversary wishes for Ruth the secretary.
Relating to Your Audience on Social Media
The whole idea behind social media is similar to what makes for effective SEO. That is, posting objective content dealing only with your market. If you run a collision shop, talk about the latest developments in car repair. If you own a boat yard, post the latest in boating technology or water conditions.
None of your followers want to be your friends. And let’s be honest– you don’t need any new friends either. Your professional relationship with your social media followers is founded on your business– your livelihood. So channel the potential in your followers for generating business. Pique their interests and encourage visits to your site to learn about your latest products. Or to read your latest objective blog content.
Social Media; It Comes Down to Self Respect
So keep your business social media accounts professional. If you want your social media to reflect you’re running the kind of company to profile your dog or your extended family on your website, be my guest. But if you actually want to drive commerce through your social media, leave your personal life in your personal life. And don’t waste your followers’ time with irrelevant nonsense unrelated to your business. Because frankly it annoys people, they’ll lose respect for your company and your followers will drop like flies.
Social media this day and age provides companies a free platform for customer interaction. It’s up to you how your target audience perceives you through this medium. Is your company an impressive, respectable titan of industry? Or a corny, hokey, small-time operation without a clue how to run their feed?
When it comes to running your social media, be objective, discuss your industry, your company’s new products and post your blogs to ultimately drive site traffic and business. And do it consistently. That’s it. Or better, yet, leave it to the marketing agency experts.
