Best Practices for Promoting Your Business on Social Media

If you were taking a wait-and-see approach to social media marketing — the waiting part is over. For a while now, social media has been the ‘Wild West” of marketing initiatives. Still, with Facebook’s ever-changing updates, shifts in SEO, and more and more companies jumping into the social media pool, many best practices are emerging that are worthy of note. Here are just a few:

Ensure social media is an extension of your brand.

Your social media presence is an extension of your brand. It’s no surprise to find that the top social media channels Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube coincide with some of the world’s top brands: Coca-Cola, Disney, and Starbucks, to name a few. The lesson here is that we all acknowledge how good branding is essential and social media provides us just another avenue to communicate our consistent branding message.

Monitoring conversations takes commitment.

There’s no way around the idea that you’re going to have to open yourself up to the two-way dialogue that defines social media. Yes, you will have people that love you and those that hate you. And both will likely have something to say about you. Because of this, you will need to monitor your social media conversations continually, but don’t consider this a negative. Think of it as an opportunity to show you care and build trust with your customers. When something goes wrong, you’re there to fix it and maintain a positive reputation. (By the way, if you haven’t been talking to your customer service department head yet, now is the time to become excellent colleagues.)

Cross-promote for social media success.

If they don’t know you are on Facebook, how will they know to look for you there? Better yet, give them even more reason to find and “Like” you by offering an incentive that gives them something of value: Sweepstakes, the inside track on new products, exclusive services, Facebook-only deals. Social media channels are ever-changing, so you have plenty of opportunities to experiment with social media campaigns and see what resonates with your fans.

We know that venturing into new marketing territory can be a little scary, but rest assured that social media isn’t going away. It’s only getting more prominent and vital every day. So, if you were waiting to see if this social media thing was going to pan out, the verdict is in — it’s here to stay.

Benchmark your social media marketing.

Ever wish you could see all the important stats when it comes to social media in one place? Better yet, how about if they were broken out by social media channels so you could see exactly what you needed fast? Us too! That’s why we’ve compiled the latest information and created infographics that can help you see the big picture right now. Check out these social media marketing infographics.

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on to help you optimize your social media plans.

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