ENGAGEWEB

How to start out on social media as a business

Carl Hopkinson

We all know how easy it is to make a mistake, especially when you’re typing out the written word and you only have 140 characters to say what you need to. The fact is that these things happen, but there is nothing more frustrating than making the same mistakes over and over again and not knowing a solution to the problem.

This is all the more frustrating when you are a business trying to get a foot in on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Understandably, if the same mistake is being made time and time again, you are going to become disenfranchised with the whole concept of taking part on social networking platforms. It’s important to persevere, otherwise you may not reap the benefits that come with social media such as being able to actively engage with your customers and build strong relationships that will ultimately lead to brand loyalty.

As a business, the biggest and yet most simple issue that you make when looking at social media is forgetting to implement a strategy.

Ultimately, you will be using social media platforms to market your brand and the products you provide. As a competent business person, it should therefore be logical that you need to implement a solid strategy for your marketing efforts on social media. Develop your strategy like you would for any other marketing campaign, thinking about who, what, when, where, why and how. Of course, these aren’t the only parts to be included into your strategy; also take into consideration issues such as what you want to get out of using social media for your business, and the platforms you want to use.

If you create and execute a strategy correctly, you will be able to begin to connect with customers in a way you may not have been able to achieve otherwise. One thing to consider, however, is that using social media can have an impact upon your reputation, so it is often preferable to enlist the help of professionals with experience in marketing on social media.