Social Media: tips for small to medium organisations
The general convention when discussing all things social media is for the narrative to focus and dwell on Facebook, twitter and more recently pintrest. One telling absence from these discussions is Google’s very own attempt at launching into the foray of social media, Google+.
At its launch, Google had the vision that this new social media platform will rise to the challenges set by its predecessors Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately things did not go as initially planned and despite all the early enthusiasm, the much anticipated Google+ simply drifted into the background – on to the preverbal back burner in the world of social media.
There were many plausible reasons which contributed to its failure; this included its lack of user friendliness and seemingly complex process of actually interacting and socialising. However, as with all things Google, the landscape seems to be changing. According to the Nielsen report, Google+ usage has dramatically increased relative to that of its competitors. This is no coincidence as rumours have been circulating that Google is attempting to integrate SERP positions with Google+ plus
Although this does force some questions regarding the influence that Google imposes as well as ultimately questioning whether this platform is one big verification process – there are many inherent benefits to businesses as well, specifically SME’s.
What Google+ allows its users to achieve is targeted messaging to particular segments. This means that the user is sending specific messages to specific groups; an advantageous tool for smaller organisations.
With its more targeted approach, Google+ also moves away from the ‘target everyone with all your updates’ kind of approach. However, simply being on the social media scene is not enough; SME’s really need to embrace the essence of social media. Below are the top tips businesses should follow.
1) Log on – all too often individuals get the relevant social signals on their website and expect that’s all that is required. If you’re a well-established and world recognised brand then this may well work, however with SME’s, logistically managing the campaign is always seen as a difficulty. With more and more dependence on mobile and smartphones. Logging on for at least 5 minutes a day should not be a problem
2) Engage – now that you are on the relevant social media platforms, mere presence is not enough. Engagement is a vital aspect of social media, this means connecting with the relevant people and updating your news feeds and posts.
3) Interact – all too often organisations post irrelevant information that is more often than not very sales oriented. This is good if you have a time specific offer or a brand new product, however constantly regurgitating the same information means that your followers, friends and social community will become more disenfranchised.
4) Content – this remains a key cog of the social media revolution, businesses are urged to put themselves in their customer’s shoes and view their social media strategy from this perspective. A constant repetition of the same, outdated information will surely put your social friends off. With more and more dependency on content marketing, it is easier to make the association between your content strategies and your social media strategies. Ensure that these are both pulling the marketing efforts in the same direction with consistent messages. Although social media does allow one to digress, ensure that the basic brand messages and generic cialis principles are the consistent.
5) Follow the relevant people – if you are a localized regional specific organisation then be sure that is viewed by the company you associate with, digitally speaking. This means local organisations, businesses and key opinion makers in the region. If you are a national/ international organisation then the same principles apply.
