Social media is still one of your best options for successfully developing your brand online. It’s still taking a while for some to catch on, but many people get the importance of social media in developing your business online. And for those of you who still don’t really understand it, I don’t blame you, it’s a lot to keep up with.
Social media tools and networks are continually morphing and changing daily, so the technology can be a bit challenging to stay on top of. There are so many networks and tools available, and new ones popping up all the time. How on earth, can anyone keep up with this unless the spend their entire day devoted to “studying” and “doing” social media?!
If that’s your job then it’s okay, but for the rest of us it can be overwhelming, and normally when people get overwhelmed nothing good happens. My answer is this…
Keep It Simple
Just use the tools that you enjoy using. You’ll be the most productive that way. The main four networks to take a look at are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Set up a presence on each of those networks. Spend some time on each one to get the “feel” of them.
Another good method is to be where your customers, clients and colleagues are. For example, maybe you love using Twitter. That’s awesome. Enjoy yourself there. But, what if none of your customers are there? Maybe you’d reach more of them on Facebook? Then keep using Twitter (because you like it), but start using Facebook more to reach out to your customers. (this is obviously just an example.)
Stay Focused on Being Social and Helpful
Keep the cocktail party analogy in mind when approaching any form of social media. If you’re at a cocktail party with all of your friends, and all you’re doing is telling them how great you are or how great your products and services are, and are continually trying to sell them something, you’ll always end up standing by yourself and everyone will just be annoyed by you. Where’s the fun in that?
Be friendly. Be social. Be helpful. Be honest. This will do more for your brand than just pitching your goods.
