How do I Integrate Social Media into my existing marketing plan and not go crazy trying?
Use what you already know and move it into the social arena. You spend every day with your clients and customers; you interact with them so you already know what they want to know. Just take that and find a way to apply it in the social media environment.
Your personality is why people spend time with you. Take that personality on-line and you will find success.
Don’t just jump on the latest social media band wagon, figure out what will work for your business. Maybe interacting on forums and answering technical questions will work better for computer repair persons, while blogging on Active Rain might work better for Real Estate Professionals.
There is a place where your customers hang out on line. Find that place and observe your customers interacting on-line. Then orient yourself, stick your toe in the water a little, answer a question, talk to a couple of members and see things click. Decide is this something you can stick with? Does it work with your marketing strategy for attracting clients or customers? Then act, get involved and stay involved.
Each type of business is different and reaches their audience in different way, not every business needs to use social media to do that. It won’t work for everyone. You also need to realize that just hitting people over the head with your message is not the right way to approach social media. I have friends on facebook that are in real estate and the only time I see a post from them is when they have a listing. What makes them think I even care? I am not interested in your listing, I am interested in learning about you as a person and when I figure out you’re a realtor and I am in the market for your services, I will let you know.
Don’t tell me you are the greatest tech support person on the earth every day. Do tell me if you have a special I should be taking advantage of but don’t beat me over the head with it.
It you’re a tech support person on a forum, I want your technical knowledge and will thank you for it and when I need it again, I will seek you out, especially if you post to the forum regularly.
By now, you get the idea, in order to effectively market yourself using social media you need to have a strategy and use that strategy and adjust that strategy that focuses on longevity. If you’re not in it for the long haul, don’t even stick your toe in the water. Find another way to market your business that you will stick with.
Once you get yourself established and known the next step is to get people to spread your ideas.
Everywhere you look you see them, but how do you get one of your own?
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