Quick Tips: Who, What, Why and When of Your Social Media Engagement

Business owners need to stay engaged on their social media accounts to keep a pulse on their target audience and build relationships with their customers and referral partners. It’s also important so they can respond quickly to negative feedback and keep their customers happy. Keep these quick tips in mind next time you’re online.

WHO: Decide on your social media identity

There’s a natural inclination to separate your business and personal accounts, but really, that just creates more work and takes away your credibility. Contrary to what some believe, switching between two social media accounts doesn’t help your business or progress.

If you’re serious about running your business, then get comfortable with being real about who you are on social media and use it to enhance your branding. Your public persona and your business should be authentic, which eliminates the need for separate business and personal accounts.

WHAT: Monitor your followers

To know your audience, you need to both interact with them and follow what they’re up to. Keep track of who is following and liking what you put out there and on what platforms. Periodically, review your audience and determine their purpose. The better you get to know them, the better you can customize your social media presence with relevant news and content for them. The more relevant your content is to them, the higher your credibility and trustworthiness will be. Which in turn, increases the likelihood that they’ll do business with you.

WHY: Proactively protect your reputation

There comes a time when every business runs into some bad press. Whether it’s warranted or not, customers want to do business with socially responsible companies and viral bad press can be very damaging. By keeping an eye on your audience through your social media presence, you can reduce the spread of negative information about you or your business. Intercept any problems before they go viral, and protect your reputation while also keeping unexpected costs down.

WHEN: Create a thoughtful social media plan and follow it

With so many social media channels, all serving a different purpose, you need a social media plan to strategically determine which channels to use for what. Regardless of whether this is to project an image, sell, participate, communicate, advertise, self-promote, recruit or simply provide value. These are the implicit purposes of a business, and social media is a channel to achieve your company’s purpose.

Don’t let your business’s social media plan be an afterthought. Really take the time to decide on your social media voice and the types of ideas and information you want to share to engage with your audience. From there, an editorial calendar keeps your content relevant, consistent and true to your brand’s voice.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290591