Using social media to promote your business is a common and acceptable way to increase sales online! Social marketing however can be very time consuming if you don't have a predetermined strategy designed to help you be more productive with how and where you invest your time and efforts!
Here are 5 hard and fast tips you can use to be more productive when using these sites to promote your business!
Just a Few Will Do
More is NOT always better in terms of how many different social sites you use to promote your business! The fact is working these sites can be very time consuming and can also result in diminishing returns if your efforts are NOT effective! It is therefore strongly recommended to focus on just a few of these online communities thereby enabling you to develop more meaningful relationships and better results!
Monitor Your Time
Social marketing is a lot of fun as well as a great way to promote your business however it's best to first establish clear cut objectives! Once you log into any site be mindful of what you're trying to achieve and stick to your plan! It is very easy to spend hours simply socializing but you must remember you do have a business to run so use your time wisely! Sticking to a preset plan will serve to help you be more productive!
Make Your Point/Pitch Clearly
Whether your main objective is to promote your business or simply introduce others to what it is you do, be clear and concise when communicating with them! Social sites are typically 'unstructured,' insofar as how members communicate with each other but as a business owner you must make your points clearly and in a professional manner! The key is to be subtle and tactful so as not to offend site members with any 'brutish' sales pitches! These people are looking to make friends and NOT to be sold!
Work Smarter
Look around for any apps a particular site may have available to help you work more efficiently! As previously mentioned social marketing can be very time consuming so any tool you can find to help you work more efficiently should not be overlooked! Also take note as to when are a particular community is at its busiest so you can actively work it during those times! The more people you can connect with or be seen by the more productive your efforts will be!
Always Follow Up
The key to your success using social communities to promote your business will be found in how well you follow up on requests and/or promises made! Remember without the trust of others your effectiveness will dwindle dramatically and when you fail to follow up people will NOT find you trustworthy! Simply do what you say you're going to do and you'll earn the respect and trust of others!
Using social media online to promote your business can be a very effective strategy if implemented correctly! The biggest drawback this approach offers however is it can be very time consuming since relationships must be forged as well as trust being gained! The 5 tips offered above serve to help you be more productive by planning your approach as well as targeting the sites that work best for your purposes! It's important to recognize your success is entirely dependent upon the effectiveness of your efforts and with a workable plan your efforts can be all the more productive!