How To Use Social Media Successfully?

[amuthajrv]

How to use social media successfully for business?

[melissacatwalk]

Set up a fan page in Facebook and write there regularly and make your posts interesting and catching as much as you can do.

[Gary Barzel]

The way I see it is like its a dating game. When you are out on a date, in order for the date to be successful you have to make interesting conversation, be polite, participate, and show a genuine interest in your date's well being. If you keep that up it will be a success. Social media works along the same lines, as long as you are providing value, and show a genuine well being for your audience you will succeed.

[M.Rebecca]

- Join and participate in related online communities
- Join and participate in niche related forums
- Invite guest bloggers to post on your blog
- Build a strong social networking profile
- Share posts/ news/ hot deals on social media platforms frequently
- Submit your website to social bookmarking sites
- Add RSS feeds to your website

[SalesExpert]

I would agree that using social networking would generate traffic for your site or business.in order to effectively use social media as a small business there are a few things you need to do:

1. Create a Social Media Marketing Plan
2. Build a QUALITY community, not a QUANTITY community
3. Post at least once a day
4. Engage with Fans
5. Share news about your company and promotions

There is a reason people are following your company… they like it or what you offer. So keep them up to date on what is going on.

[Webmaxed]

I agree that the content you put up on Facebook definitely has to be engaging - otherwise your "Fans" will lose interest fast. Another recommendation is to create a regular update schedule and follow it diligently. Posting only sporadically or posting too often will make your audience tune out. I actually just wrote a how-to guide on this very topic (small business marketing on Facebook); if you'd like to download a free copy of it you can go to my website:

"Facebook Marketing for Your Small Business... Simplified!" eBook

[henricsmayores]

You must create accounts on the biggest social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. A tip is that, you can use Ping.fm to directly post into all of the sites in just one click. You may also use hootsuite to schedule your posts.

[Webmaxed]

I agree, Hootsuite (http://hootsuite.com/) is great...you can schedule all your social media (Twitter, Facebook) updates days or even weeks in advance. It's a wonderful way to consistently post fresh content.

[PennyLane31]

What Social Media you opt to use? I suggest you to use LinkedIn since it is a business-related social networking site; it is where businessmen and professionals get connected. You can google linkedin and create an account there. You have to sell your company to other people so you have to put complete details including the specialties your company/business has in your linkedin profile. You have to brag something good about your company/business. In that way, you'll get numerous of recommendations which means potential customers.

♥Penny

[torka]

First, make sure your prospects are using social media in the first place. (Not everybody does. It all depends on who your target audience is.)

Second, find out which site(s) they use most frequently. If all your prospects are on LinkedIn, it won't do you much good to be on Twitter, and vice versa.

If you don't know whether they use social media, or you don't know which sites they frequent, you need to do a lot more audience research -- because I'd be willing to bet there's a lot more about your prospects you don't know, either.

Once you've figured out where your audience is, spend a little bit of time lurking if you're not already familiar with the community standards of those sites. Things that would go over great on Facebook might not be so well accepted on LinkedIn, for instance. If you want to be successful with social media, you don't want to annoy the other people who visit that social media site.

Then, start connecting and posting. Post interesting stuff. Be generous with promoting/passing along other people's stuff -- don't just blahblahblah about yourself and your company and your products. That's boring and isn't going to win you any friends. It's OK to talk about yourself and your company, just don't let it be the only thing you talk about.

And don't just talk. Listen, too. If someone addresses a message to you (public or private), answer as soon as you can. Talk back to others when they say something interesting. Social media is supposed to be a conversation, not a broadcast.

My less taxes, adjusted for inflation.

--Torka