- Decide why you want to use social media – it can have lots of benefits, but unless you have the right intentions and you’re fully engaged with it then it could do more harm than good
- Understand the channels available – dependent on the people you’re trying to engage with and the ways in which you want to engage; different social media channels offer different levels of potential. Ensure you research them and pick the most appropriate for you
- Planning is key – make sure you know what you need to do and when you need to do it. This helps you stay on track and not lose focus and time in the ever-expanding world of social media. Without a plan, it’s easy for it to become a time vacuum
- Test, test and test again – draft your key messages and test them out on family, friends and colleagues. Make sure they aren’t misleading and get people to the desired outcome
- Expand your empire – social media opens up possibilities to widen your audience and reach new markets. Once you’re comfortable that you’re using the social media channels correctly, revisit your plans and see if you can expand them further
- People sell – you can inject your personality and humour into social media, helping build brand awareness and loyalty; it doesn’t always have to be grey and boring. Remember though, keep personal and business life separate. Customers don’t need to see pictures of you with friends at the pub
- Images sell – make use of images and graphics to illustrate your message and stand out from the crowd. People have short attention spans, and you need to get that engagement in a matter of second as they are scrolling down the page
- Solve a problem – it’s an old sales tool but don’t always post saying ‘20% off’ or ‘Buy one get one free’, try and tailor your messages so that you are engaging your customers by solving a problem or providing information to them. It will cut down the feeling of being shouted at and sold to and build up a feeling of engagement
- It’s good to talk – make sure you keep on top of conversations, comments and enquiries. Notifications on your phone can be annoying, especially when you get a lot of them, but so can bad feedback from a current or potential customer when they don’t get a reply to a message they’ve sent
- It’s not always perfect – you won’t always get it right, and things will go wrong but test your messages before posting, track your performance through analytics and respond positively to feedback and you won’t go far wrong