There are multiple social media platforms popping up every day and entering our vernacular, from Snap Chat to Vine to Secret, and I am sure just typing this a new one came onto the scene, so how do you know if you are successful in this new landscape? For the purpose of leveraging social for business, I am going to focus on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and define what success looks like in each, as well as provide one key tip!
Think of Facebook as your store front: your page provides an overview of who you are, what you have to offer, and how to find you both off and online. The content on the page is akin to a client stepping into the store, where they can see the products or find information on the services offered, including how other clients felt about the service, and interact with either those fellow clients, or with you directly. If someone likes your pictures or post, it means something caught their attention (they picked up the product or service brochure), if they comment, it means they walked directly up to you and started a conversation because they have an opinion or want more. In my opinion, though, the ultimate win for businesses on Facebook is the “share”: if they share it with their “friends”, it means they called everyone they were connected to and told them to all visit your store (all in the matter of nanoseconds!).
The key to winning on Facebook is grounded in the 80/20 rule: make it valuable for the person who walks in. If you are screaming at them each time they “open the door” about how great you and your products/services are, but not what is in it for them, they will quickly go somewhere else.
I liken Twitter to the coffee shop during the pre-work hours! Think about it—there are multiple conversations going on, tons of visual stimulation, and one person standing at the front of this onslaught trying to stay pleasant and help you as quickly as possible. Like your favorite coffee shop, your Twitter page needs to tell enough about you so visitors know they are in the right spot (imagery, contact information, and your company name are all visible), but other than that, the content is found in the snippets of conversation within. If someone “favorites” one of your tweets, it is like they took a note on their phone to look it up later (favorites in Twitter are just that…a bookmark within your Twitter account) if someone RTs, it means they shot a quick text to ALL their friends sharing the information, but if someone comments—you really have them now!! If amidst all the noise, they heard what you said and took time to either agree, disagree, or ask for more, you’ve hit your mark.
The key to winning in Twitter is responsiveness. When someone takes the time to comment or acknowledge your company or your tweet in some way…respond, don’t wait. Imagine what would happen if the barista stopped responding!
I view LinkedIn like the peg board in the office break room: it is typically targeted more towards business and the skills, tools, or information people viewing the board find valuable. Within this forum, you provide much more detailed information because that is what the audience expects and wants. If someone likes your post in LinkedIn, that’s nice, but it’s really just like someone nodded approvingly at your flyer. If they comment, that’s great because it means they read your flyer, and are ready to talk to you more about it, but the real win in LinkedIn (again, like in Facebook) is the share. If the post you just shared with your 500 connections is shared by even 1% of them with their 500 connections, so on and so forth, your original post just reached an infinitely larger audience.
The key to winning in LinkedIn isn’t just the comment or the share, but the true value you bring to a targeted group of connections. When you share valuable information within a group, you might speak to a smaller subset of connections, but they are acutely tuned in to what you have to say, so their shares and comments drive more potential leads for your business.
Hopefully now, you understand social media in its simplest forms and realize it is not all that different from what you knew before. If you are not sure how to start this kind of marketing, take a quick moment to download the Inbound Marketing Checklist so you can put your newly found knowledge to work for your business.