The 3 Things You Need to Know About Using Social Media for Your Business

1. It can be very profitable…. If you do it the right way
Have you ever seen the person who attends every networking event in town, collects a huge stack of business cards and comes home thinking they had a highly productive day? I’m sure you have plenty of them over the years – they feel busy, therefore they assume they are productive. In reality, none of the people will remember this person and he/she will close little or no business out of their business card collection efforts. Promoting your business through social media is very similar; if you are running around trying to add a bunch of friends/connections with no rhyme or reason, it will produce little or no business. Sure you will feel busy, but you won’t be putting any money in your bank account.

If you would like to be profitable using social media, you must do things the right way. You need to know the most efficient way to use these tools, how to find your target prospects and the best way to turn those relationships into revenue for your business. At a traditional networking event, you are better off having three meaningful conversations in two hours, rather than collecting a stack of business cards. Social media is no different – you need to do it the right way, not just do activities that make you feel busy.

2. You need to determine how you will use social media
When we initially sit down with our clients, we focus on learning what their specific goals are as an organization. Every business has different objectives – attracting new clients, creating awareness in the community, upselling existing clients and many others. Each business is unique so there cannot be a “cookie cutter” approach to social media marketing. Determine what you big picture goals are for your organization and then leverage social media to help you accomplish them. If you try to do 10 different things, you probably won’t be successful at any of them, so choose your main objective and get started.

3. You must create a specific strategy
Your business MUST have a specific strategy for social media. If you own a restaurant, you will want frequent communication with your social media network, reminders about happy hour, special deals, new menu items, upcoming events and other exciting happenings at your establishment. Do you think that an insurance company will do the same things? Of course not! They will be talking about the importance of asset protection, the value they bring to clients, the services they provide and the overall importance of financial organization.

You must develop a specific strategy that is unique to your business! Make sure that you understand your objective and then utilize the appropriate social media tools to move you towards accomplishing your organizations objective.