How to measure real growth through social media optimization
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: social media optimization is not all friends, fun and games. It has changed the way we communicate to clients and even sell ourselves. Without it, the business world we know would be largely disconnected and full of outbound media. Inbound (social) media is more effective and lets you see instant results. The world did not end, so it’s time to set your business resolutions for 2013. Here are some helpful tips to boost your social media optimization. Happy New Year!
1. Establish Reasonable Goals
You can’t earn 1,000 fans in a day. In fact, reaching 1,000 followers on a social media networking site is a considerable feat! Your best approach should be to establish small, reasonable goals. This way, you won’t feel like a failure if you don’t reach your goal. This stuff takes time! There are creative firms who are entirely dedicated to social media management. Try to get five new likes a week. Write at least one blog post. Update Facebook page once a day. While these goals seem small, they are still time consuming. So plan ahead, and keep a log of your ideas.
2. Define Values
You cannot expect to engage other people if you don’t know your values as a business. Are you a green business? Do you support charities? Are you family-owned? Do you support your local community? These are all things that matter to your audience. While they seem like non-tangible ideas, they are invaluable assets to your business.
3. Listen! and Engage
One of the most time consuming aspects of social media optimization is responding to comments, questions, and even complaints. Social media is a beast and a burden. You can reach more people in an instant, but they can also voice opinions both good and bad. Be prepared to engage your online community by re-tweeting, sharing, and liking their stuff. It will expand your reach and help develop strong relationships between you and your clients.
4. Research the Competition
If you haven’t already looked around for the competition, you are surely lacking pace in your social media optimization marathon. Who are your competitors, and how do they do things? Here’s what you should do: Draw a table and see how often they post, what their feedback looks like, and compare it to yours. How do you measure up? What could you do differently? Knowing the answers to these questions will give you the market advantage to out sing your competitors.
5. Make it Work for You (not against you)
We know how small businesses work. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time in the day. If all this seems like a big headache, you may want to consider outsourcing your efforts to the professionals. trueITpros offers guaranteed social media optimization packages to fit any budget. We can track progress, write reports, measure growth, and engage your audience, wherever they may be. Give us a call to talk to one of our social media experts. We can take you from zero to liftoff in no time.