0131 560 1790 0131 560 1790

Three smart social media tips you cant afford to ignore

Three smart social media tips you can’t afford to ignore

Just because you already actively use social media as part of your online marketing strategy doesn’t mean that you are necessarily squeezing every last drop of marketing juice out of your assorted accounts.

Let’s take a look at three very important tips that you need to consider as you attempt to harness the full power of social media marketing…

Keep it real

These days, it is all too easy to pay some shady folks online for likes, comments, shares, reviews and other social media interactions: Such rogues will be quick to highlight the myriad benefits of paying for the fake user input that they generate on your behalf – and the massive return on investment you could expect from enlisting in their services…Except for the fact that these people are scammers, who are out to make a quick buck at your expense.

Just like the search engines, Facebook, Twitter and the other big social networks cannot be fooled so easily: Advances in their algorithms will quickly detect – and penalise – any accounts that are attempting to cheat the system.

Instead of wasting your valuable time and money paying for fake social media interactions, you’d be far better off diverting your resources into generating high-quality, unique and engaging content.  It might not seem like the quickest way to social media Nirvana, but genuinely connecting with your audience is the only way to guarantee great results.

Respond positively to negative comments or reviews

Social media can be a double-edged sword for your business: On one hand, it can help you to spread the word about how great your company is – and the many good experiences your customers have had in dealing with you; On the other, it gives people that wish to bash your firm online a perfect forum to leave terrible feedback and bad reviews.

Negative comments and ratings simply cannot be ignored: You’ll need to respond, but in a calm, professional manner.  By publicly replying to negative feedback, you’ll not only be attempting to resolve the issues that the complainers have – but other people following your social streams will see that you take a proactive approach to customer service.

In an ideal world, complaints would be made privately – and you could resolve them one-on-one with the unhappy customer: However – If someone chooses to make their complaint public, it is only fair that you can publicly defend your company.

Be careful, however, to protect the privacy of your business operations and your customer interactions: Your public responses should simply be designed to let people know that you are doing something about the issue – details beyond that should never be divulged, as that is between you and your customers.

Most of the big social networks have the option to report abuse and fake accounts, so make sure to use these tools if you feel that someone is out to maliciously harm your business via social media without valid justification: For example, by using fake accounts to give you bad reviews, or leaving abusive comments on your social pages.

If you respond admirably to criticism from genuine customers over social media – and address false criticism in a professional manner, it is possible to put a positive spin on even the most negative press: Today’s savvy social users are used to seeing bogus reviews, so will take everything that other users say on your pages with a pinch of salt, especially when you respond well in the face of any adversity.

Take a targeted approach

Simply liking, sharing, following and commenting on any and every account under the sun is a sure-fire way to destroy your brand’s credibility and water down the message that you are trying to promote about your firm online.  Try to keep all of your business social media interactions relevant to your brand.

Interacting with your existing customers, people with questions about topics that you specialise in, or other brands and individuals within your industry can prove to be incredibly useful: It means that you’ll gain exposure in the circles that matter most – and project a favourable image for your brand.

Following your favourite celebrities or sharing funny memes isn’t always appropriate for business accounts, so think carefully about the tone that is being sent out with every follow, post, share or like you make: Try to see your interactions through the eyes of your intended audience: Would you really want to enlist the services of a company that uses their social pages in the same manner as their personal accounts?

About Graham Lyons

Graham is the SEO and Social Media Marketing Manager at Cozy Digital and the editor of the Cozy Digital Blog as well as contributing content for most of our social outlets like Facebook, Twitter and G+. Graham has been working in, and writing for the SEO / SMM industry since 2001 and is still as dedicated and passionate today as he was when he opened his first Website Design, Ecommerce and SEO company in 2004. You can connect with Graham and Cozy Digital via the social media links below:



You may also be interested in:

  1. Errors to avoid in your social media marketing campaign Let’s take a look at three easily-avoided errors to steer clear of in your SMM campaign… ...
  2. How to make social media work for you Despite the fact that Facebook has only been around since 2004, if it were a country, it’d have the 3nd...
  3. 3 Top Marketing Mistakes in Social Media Businesses make a considerable number of mistakes using social media but some have more damaging potential than others. Here are...
  4. Stay on top of your Social Media Marketing with these 3 tips These days, Social Media is a vital part of the online marketing landscape which should never be neglected ...
  5. Current and Noteworthy Trends in Social Media Marketing E commerce is probably one of the most rapidly-changing business models in the world. We are forced constantly to evolve...