The Transition From Social Media to Social Business

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Nowadays, many people still think of social media as an entertainment tool whereby people can share a part of their lives with others. Understanding how powerful it is for business will help you gain great strides toward business success.

The approach that you will take when you use social media for personal reasons is very different than the approach that you will take when you use it for business purposes. When it comes to business, you need to carve a place for yourself and your business. One of the profound differences between personal and professional uses of social media is that you don’t have competition of any kind if you are using social media for personal reasons whereas you have a great deal of competition if you use it for business. With that in mind, you need to make sure that you stand out among your competitors so that the people whom you are targeting as clients will notice you and your offerings and begin to interact with you and forge a relationship.

As a business owner, it is very important for you to understand the potential that social media has for your business and you should take advantage of all that it has to offer you. You will see that it is well worth the effort that you put into it and you will be rewarded many times over.

The success of your brand

The success of your brand is totally dependent on other people. To a great extent, your success is connected to other people’s emotions and likes and dislikes. If people ultimately like your products and/or services, they will buy from you. However, it certainly doesn’t start there. It starts the way any other relationship starts. You must forge a bond with the other person and build the relationship’s foundation on trust. If you can’t prove  yourself trustworthy and credible, you won’t get anywhere at all. It is critical to understand that building a strong and enduring relationship takes a great deal of time and effort. Because of the fact that there is such a huge volume of information that is available through the Internet, it may take longer than you think for the other person to reach you and to start to interact with you in any meaningful way. Just because there is a great deal of available information does not necessarily mean that your online connections are going to interact with everyone who is an online content contributor.

The importance of your online communities

The parallels between interacting with your online communities for personal reasons and for business are very interesting. In both cases, you need to be a part of a particular circle. The way that you interact with the other members of the circle is the same in both cases. No matter what, you need to get the other people to trust you and to regard you as a subject matter expert. Because of the fact that you understand the basic principles when you transition from social media to social business, it won’t be a difficult transition in all likelihood. There are a few basic ideas that you should keep in mind as you are crossing over to the realm of social business.

  • Starting with the content: This is absolutely the first thing that you have to ensure is in excellent shape. If your content is not worthy to have other people read and appreciate it, you wont’ get anywhere. Once you have the ideas that you want to share with other people, you need to made sure that you can execute those ideas creatively, succinctly, and in an extremely exciting and well-written manner.
     
  •  Understanding your communities inside and out: If you truly understand the wants and needs of your communities, you will have no problem (hopefully) giving them whatever they require. The more you understand them, the more they will want to engage with you.
     
  • Establishing a strong connection on a human level: There is only one way in which people connect with each other. That is on an emotional level. If you can touch them emotionally, your relationship will start out strong and will continue to grow stronger and stronger.
     
  • Build momentum: Social business, just like anything else, needs a momentum in order to be successful. You need to be consistent in how you relate to other people and you need to get them to understand that they can count on you and your business for consistency and reliability. They need to understand without a doubt that they can count on you period.
     
  • Be collaborative: Collaboration is a critical part of the success of any business. Yours, of course, will not be an exception. The more you collaborate with other people, the stronger your relationship will be with them and the more successful your business will be.

Conclusion

Social media for business is an incredibly powerful and amazing tool. When it comes to using it for business, it is more involved than merely having social media profiles filled out. You need to really work to tool. Your social business will encompass the internal workings of your business and the needs and happiness of your clients at the same time. The transition between social platforms that are used for personal reasons to being used for business will be smooth as long as you understand how to make the most of the tool and as long as you are open-minded about the idea that the possibilities of what you can do are virtually limitless.

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Author

  • Carolyn Cohn

    Carolyn Cohn is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Services of CompuKol Communications. Carolyn manages CompuKol’s creative and editorial department, which consists of writers and editors. Her weekly blogs are syndicated globally. She has decades of editorial experience in online editing, and editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

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2 Responses

  1. Martha Giffen says:

    All good points!  There are so many people out there "trying" to use social media and an even larger number promoting themselves as social media "managers" that are bumbling badly!  Use social media as a means of branding your business, getting your relevant and unique content out there and consistently giving your audience your message.

  2. Paul Morgan says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Small Business
    Discussion: The Transition From Social Media to Social Business

    It is nice to read such a relevant and current post. I am a firm believer in what you are saying and know that it is the way of the future. Good on ya!
    Posted by Paul Morgan