What Social Media Methods Should I Be Using?

When you talk about social media marketing and the methods you should be using you’ll generally read about what social media website to use. However, this guide is a little different. This guide will show you how you can make the most out of your social media and make sure that your social media methods are as effective as possible.

Regular Updates

There is little worse than having a social media profile that lays dormant. If a potential customer Goggles you and finds a Twitter profile that isn’t used or a Facebook page that looks dead then they might assume that your company doesn’t exist anymore and that is the last thing you want. Try to get into the habit of sending a few updates out a day. If you’re unable to send out an update for a few days then make sure you let people know and let them know when you’re due back so that they know they can send you a message and when they should expect a reply.

Scheduled Tweets

There will be times when you’re unable to send tweets, so make sure you have a backup plan with this. Pieces of software such as HootSuite let you schedule tweets in advance. Of course you can’t schedule replies but you can send out updates on new products, reminders that you’re not around or even nightly tweets so that you reach your international customers too. You’ll find with these programmes there are lots of options for how to send updates so it is well worth having a play around and see how you find it.

Let Them Know When You’re Available

You should view your social media pages as another arm to your customer service channels. On your profile page or bio make sure you put on the hours that you are most likely to be able to reply to messages. That way people know that if they send you a message at 7pm on a Friday night you aren’t around to reply but they know what time you’re back in on Monday morning. Honest communication works much better with your customers and you’ll find they respond to you much better if they know what to expect from you and that you live up to these expectations.

Mix Up Your Updates

When customers are reading their social media newsfeeds, yours won’t be the only updates that you see. You need to make sure that the updates you are sending out are interesting and get their attention for the right reasons. Try and make sure that you send out a variety of updates so that it isn’t all the same thing. It can also be worth sending out some fun messages or injecting a bit of humour into what you have to say, so that it isn’t all business, because this is likely to make your customers want to switch off.

Run Competitions

Give something back to the people that follow you by holding competitions. People love the chance to win something for free and the people who read your social media profile will be no exception. Of course when you run a competition you also create a bit of a buzz and that is a great way to encourage new people to follow you too – which can only ever be a positive thing. There are lots of different, fun competitions you can run so make sure you have a look at what you can give away and how you can get your followers involved.

Encourage Interaction

Social media is all about communication and interaction. The best way to have a busy and successful social media profile is to let your followers know that you want to hear what they have to say. Do what you can to encourage interaction, ask for their comments and reply to anything that they have to say. This will make sure that you are seen as a friendly and approachable brand and this will leave people much more likely to want to buy from you – which in turn will help give your social media a boost! Generating sales is always a good thing and your social media page can really help to make sure that this happens.