By Jacky Au-Duoung

More and more businesses are realizing the potential benefits of having a social media strategy. Of course, not all businesses need to make the move onto Twitter or Facebook, but at the end of the day, having somewhat of a web presence won’t hurt. Before you begin, either your company’s Social Media Manager (Community Manager) or yourself, need to find, as Mitch Joel puts it, your social media pulse. Mitch Joel is well known in the social media strategy space, a speaker at social media events and the author of Six Pixels of Separation. Our previous blog entry defining a Pulse would be a good starting point if you are still lost as to where to begin building your company’s online identity.

Through rummaging numerous blogs and attending webinars and offline socials over the past few months, many experienced bloggers and Twitter users have offered some common tips on building, and strengthening one’s social media strategy and identity. Here is a brief summation of these tips:

Engage

Social Media is a conversation and good social media strategy employs active listening, asking questions, and in return, answering questions.

Represent

Refrain from talking about other brands or your competitors – your social media strategy should complement any other marketing strategy. Aim to connect with your target market and represent your company as you would in the offline world.

Offer

Give your audience a reason to continue reading and most importantly, come back! Give your audience any form of benefit, whether it be advice, news, promotions, or enhanced customer service. Answer the question – “Why Should I continue to read on?”

There are many blogs that you can consult on the ever-growing topics of social media. Choose your mix between networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) and outlets (Directories, Blogs, Threads/Forums, Websites) that best complements your market, for example:

• A sales consulting company chooses to enter all three mentioned networks, and adds a blog and website to their social media strategy. This enables their visibility to their market, allows them to monitor industry information, and provides meaningful networking benefits (let’s not forget SEO).
• A construction company chooses LinkedIn, directories, and threads/forums to establish credibility. These companies are bound by their preferred service area; their market is busy looking at company websites and reading testimonials, not tweeting aimlessly.

The best aspect of social media is that there is always an abundance of advice pertaining to channel specific topics. It is good practice to do generic searches on “Tips and Advice for”, let’s say, “Twitter Strategies for Sales Companies”. You’d be surprised by the amount of tips out there.