Writing Content for Social Media
Jump onto the social media bandwagon
Have you jumped on the bandwagon? If you have, you’ve witnessed the immense power of social media. So how do you harness social media to promote your business?
1.) Choose your social communities carefully. Online social networking can be a time consuming, (and life consuming) activity. Consider which communities you would like to join, keeping in mind reach, industry and targeted demographic. It may be more beneficial to join ActiveRain, than Facebook if you are a Realtor—so check out where your audience is.
2.) Don’t over-extend yourself. If you (or your team) has too many social networks to manage, you won’t be able to keep up. And there isn’t anything worse than out-of-date information online. Target what you can handle and do it well.
3.) Hang out for a while. Once you have joined a social network, get to know the community a while before you start posting and trying to work it. Comment or join discussions already in progress and build up a positive reputation. This will give you the chance to learn the etiquette and the audience before you dig in too deep.
4.) Tell your story. Share your business story (or that of your business). Be real. Be compelling. A good story will enamor you to your audience and create a personal connection.
5.) Don’t share too much! Just because it is easy to post pictures and inform hundreds (or thousands) of people what you are doing at any given moment, doesn’t mean you should. Create a set of guidelines for your company to follow when participating in online social communities, and follow them. Present your company policy, (in writing) to your employees for how they are to conduct themselves on their personal pages as well. This is a sketchy area, but it is better to be strict than to have your employees blogging about how they hate each other, or sharing pictures of your company holiday party with the world.
6.) Include pictures. Content is king, it will bring in the search traffic and provide a unique footprint for you online… but, the Internet is becoming, more and more, a visual media. A picture can tell your story, help create a connection and illustrate your point.
7.) Be a useful resource.Information is the capital of the Internet. If you are able to provide useful and sought-after information, you will become a popular expert resource.
8.) Reach out to others. Don’t just provide your own expert opinion; solicit interviews, feedback, comments and content from others in your industry. You will be a more well-rounded and objective resource and your online credibility will be increased!
9.) Include links. Make sure to link from keyphrases to the specific pages they reference–it is good for SEO! This will help the reader and grab potential qualified visitors to your site.
10.) Back up your opinions and cite your sources. Remember to include links to supporting documentation and cite your resources when you make your posts. This will demonstrate your professionalism and credibility, and make your page, profile, blog or site one that is considered a valuable source of information, and a popular stop on the world wide web.