It seems like every company is interested in how to become better at social media marketing, whether they’re just testing the waters of social media for the first time, or whether they have been on Twitter and Facebook for years and are trying to hone their process of social media lead generation.
No matter where your company stands on the spectrum of social media marketing, below are a few easy ways that you can get better results and improve your lead generation on social media.
How to Improve Your Social Media Marketing
1. Listen First, Then Talk
One of the great things about social media is that it makes it possible to proactively find out what problems and concerns are already being discussed by your audience.
For example, you can go on Twitter and search for keywords related to your industry or to the solution you sell, and immediately find out what people are saying. Are people complaining about a competitor, asking for ideas or referrals, asking for price quotes, or expressing frustration with some aspect of their current service provider?
Find out what people are saying, and be ready to respond with offers of assistance.
2. Build Relationships with People Who Have Bigger Audiences
Even if you are relatively new to social media, don’t be afraid to find ways to jump into conversations. Don’t be afraid to strike up conversations with experts in your field, even if they have big audiences. That’s the best way to expand your audience, by getting retweeted and mentioned by people who can introduce you to their followers.
If you offer productive contributions to conversations and share your expertise, you’ll be likely to develop a reputation of your own as someone who is worth following.
3. Start Your Own “Tribes”
Look for opportunities to start conversations related to topics that affect your industry or that respond to questions posed by your customers and prospects.
If your industry doesn’t already have an active LinkedIn group, start your own or start a group that is based on your local geography. Be a leader of conversations on social media, and people will start to look to you for real-life leadership.
Leadership is, in itself, a powerful form of marketing.
4. Don’t Spam People
This should go without saying, but too many companies are still making the mistake of bombarding people with canned, insincere messages.
Remember, you’re talking with real people – act like it.
5. Make Your Social Media Activities More Automatic – and More Personal
That said, there is a place for automated social media messages. Use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to schedule messages in advance, in bulk. Then use a dedicated 20-30 minutes per day to respond personally to questions, inquiries and to pose questions to people you follow on social media.
Social media is a promising tool because it enables us to put a human face on our companies and interact with customers in real time, with more focus and precision than ever before.
But make sure to do it the right way – with genuine authenticity and constructive contributions to the discussion.
Marketing Photo via Shutterstock
Above tips are really best to give social media the required platform that it actually needs, i believe that it needs to give everyone the freedom of expression, basis on which it can its own verdict. Also at the same time acknowledging actual people about their deeds, is a great way to be in the race.
Sean DeSilva
One tip about getting people to give you the time of day on twitter: Anytime you can set up a promotion where both you and the influencer both win, you have tweet worthy material. This is why contests can work so well.
I think a business needs to look at social media as another avenue to build relationships with customers. Relationships require a lot of listening. I was happy to see that you listed that as step number one. I see too many businesses using social media as a soap box or megaphone to tell the world about their brand. Customers want to be heard.
Aira Bongco
That’s true. One of the pros of social media is that you can reach out to important people. With this, you can reach out to the key people in the field. Wise marketers know how to utilize this. After all, you cannot be in the business alone.
These tips really are the answers for the never-ending questions on how to become a better social media marketer. I just love the fact of making the audience feel empowered and motivated by connecting to them personally. I think it’s a value that a marketer should learn to maintain more than anything else.
If your twitter account is supposed to represent you as a person (employee of your company instead of your brand), use a picture of your face and don’t be afraid to let a bit of personality shine through! People want to follow human beings, not online flyers. Social media for business is still a little bit human.