Getting Your Business Ready for Social Media

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Social media is used increasingly by more and more people. Social media can be used effectively by your business. Before deciding which social media platforms to use, you need to decide which business objectives you want social media to help meet and who will be responsible for managing and administering your social media resources.

There are a number of different ways that social media can be used. They include:

  • Promoting products and services.
  • Getting feedback from customers.
  • Providing thought leadership in your industry.
  • Monitoring your firm’s reputation.

Why should you get involved? One good reason is that your competitors are starting to use it.

Who should be involved? A senior company executive or advisor needs to be responsible for it. Responsibilities include developing the social media plan, creating the organizational structure to support it and assigning responsibility to manage and maintain it.

Where should you start? Before you start, you need to decide which objective or objectives you want to accomplish. It is prudent to identify one objective initially. As you become comfortable with the results of this initial effort, you can experiment with different approaches to gain confidence and experience. Once you start to see results from the initial effort, you can start to think about subsequent objectives that are important for your business.

How should you get started? You can either have a staff member assigned or you can outsource part or all of the functions to others. It is a function of time and money. Discuss potential uses of social media with key members of your team. This would include both employees and other key advisors to your business.

One of the keys to using social media successfully is to provide consistent, timely communication between you and your customers. You should then create a social media plan. The plan will define how you want to accomplish your objective. It should also identify the:

  • Administrative policies and procedures.
  • Management responsibilities.
  • Metrics used to evaluate effectiveness.
  • Social media platform(s) used.
  • Tools used to monitor metrics.
  • Frequency of dissemination of information.
  • People who will provide content.
  • Company executives who will monitor it.
  • Staff members designated to respond to posted comments.

Once you understand what is involved, you can make intelligent decisions about implementing it in a cost-effective manner.

Conclusion

There are many ways in which you can get your business involved with social media and there are so many different possible social media channels from which to choose, that it behooves you  to do your homework before you make a determination about which ones you feel will work best for you. You have a world of social media options laid out in front of you. However, there is one option that doesn’t exist for you and that is choosing not to get your business involved in social media at all. You are sadly mistaken if you think that your business will prosper just as much if you don’t get involved with social media. Because of the simple fact  that everyone else is involved in social media, you need to keep up with them. Otherwise, you will be left behind.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. If you are unsure where and how social media can be used in your business, we can help. For a free assessment of your online presence, and to discuss your objectives and how social media can impact your business, let's have coffee.

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Author

  • Allan Berger

    Allan Berger has 30+ years of experience as an award winning business development consultant and coach. He is responsible for a multitude of successful projects involving leadership and employee development, project management consulting and training, and information technology solutions. His specialty is helping business owners and their leadership teams to think outside of the box. Mr. Berger helps them to expand existing products and services for new customers and offer new products and services to existing customers. As an experienced business owner, consultant and coach, he shows individuals and organizations how to maximize their potential. He helps individuals understand their strengths and weaknesses. He coaches them as they develop into effective leaders. Allan helps organizations to quickly diagnose business issues and formulate cost-effective, practical solutions. He then helps them rapidly implement improvements. Allan spends much of his time supporting clients in the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, professional services, retail and utility industries. For more information about Allan, vist his website at: www.bergerbusinessadvisors.com

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6 Responses

  1. Harald Reedtz Tokeroed says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    • Group: B2B Social Media
    • Discussion: Getting Your Business Ready for Social Media

    That is so true and a very important point to state. I see way too many companies jumpings heads first into the great ocean of social media, however, without having clear objectives and policies of how to (re)act and who to take responsibility of the social media effort and initiatives. It’s critical that there is a red line between the overall corporate strategy and the social media strategy. Further it is very important that the HR, Communications, Marketing, and Sales divisions are collaborating and sharing insights in order for the social media effort to be successful. This is unfortunately the thing that most companies forget when engaging in social media. Lastly there MUST be commitment from the senior management in order for the social media plan to be successful.
    Posted by Harald Reedtz Tokeroed | Digital Identity ®

    • Alla Berger says:

      Harold,

      I agree with you, That is why I believe the senior leadership of the organization must understand the both the potentila uses of social media and the impact on the organization before they commit money and resources to it.

  2. Ryan Biddulph says:

    Hi Allan,

    Gauge your intent before adopting a social media strategy. Setting goals helps you build an effective campaign. Smart tips here.

    I intend to engage frequently, create value and drive leads to my website. Giving freely is the basic idea I hold in all social media interactions, from leaving comments, sharing content of my friends and penning content of my own. Give freely, engage frequently, help out your friends and prosper.

    Thanks Allan!

    Ryan

  3. Alla Berger says:

    Social media is a communications channel that many business owners don’t understand how it can be utilized as a strategic resource for their business. Since it is rapidly changing business owners don’t have either the time nor focus to understand the significant role it can play in their business if implemented correctly.

  4. Susi Ibelati says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups
    • Group: Social Media For The Clueless
    • Discussion: Getting Your Business Ready for Social Media

    It’s also important to know which social media platforms your clients are using. There’s little point in focusing intensely on Twitter for example, if your customer base can mainly be found on Linkedin. Research on B2B and B2C activity in social media is essential.
    Posted by Susi Ibelati –