Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Five Social Media Secrets That Never Go Out of Style

Anyone who spends time in social media has one or two favorite platforms. Some may prefer using Twitter, some may prefer using Facebook, and some may prefer an obscure site or one that fits a specific industry. Many of us who use social media as a marketing tool to build our employer's brand or our personal brand have also developed a secret or two along the way. Here are my five social media secrets that never go out of style.

TIP 1: BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR PROFILE NAME
Maintain a consistent name for all social media platforms. If a brand name is not available, use a familiar tagline. If "Nike" had been unavailable, the company could have used "JustDoIt," and everyone would immediately have recognized that any account with that name belonged to Nike. With all the social sites available to your brand, take some time to conduct a social media audit and re-evaluate the names of all your accounts. 


TIP 2: MAKE YOUR CONTENT EASY TO SHARE
When blogging, feature pull quotes in large bold font. This will allow your readers to quickly and easily share your content on Twitter with your name and Twitter handle. 


TIP 3: FOCUS ON PLATFORMS
Despite Visa's tagline of being "everywhere you want to be," acknowledge that your brand can't be everywhere. Do your research and see which social platform your key stakeholders and/or customers use and develop a strategy or strategies to make the biggest bang. Don't waste time building a presence on every new platform just because your son or daughter thinks the platform is a fun alternative to homework. (Think back a few years...everyone went Ga-Ga over Quora, and you don't hear anything about it today.) 


SHARE ON TWITTER: DESPITE VISA'S TAGLINE OF BEING "EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE," YOUR BRAND CANNOT BE EVERYWHERE. ~@DebbieLaskeyMBA

TIP 4: USE HASHTAGS
Capitalize on hashtags. Create and use hashtags with your brand name, your company name, key employees if they are industry influencers, and more. And use these hashtags on all your social platforms. You may even use them on traditional marketing collateral, such as, business cards, letterhead, brochures, etc.


TIP 5: PRACTICE REGULAR SOCIAL LISTENING
Set up alerts for your brand, company name, industry, and more. This will let you know when others are talking about your brand or brands and allow you to chime in when appropriate. You will also be quickly informed if someone says something negative or untrue about your brand so you can comment or chose to remain silent. You may also wish to set up alerts about your competition and key influencers in your industry. The sites to use are Google Alerts (https://www.google.com/alerts) and Talkwalker (https://www.talkwalker.com/alerts).

On a final note and to celebrate the spirit of social media, here's my fave Tweet of all time from Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar), “Don't do social, be SOCIAL: sincere, open, collaborative, interested, authentic, and likeable.”

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