Social media for Business 101

Social media is no longer just a fad for teenagers; it has cemented itself as a crucial channel to market yourself and/or your business. While a social media strategy is important to both businesses and those choosing to engage as white collar contractors (Independent Professionals/IPros), it can grow to be more hindrance than help if not managed correctly.
Today, we address some misconceptions regarding the usage of social media to take the confusion out of the situation for businesses.
Define your audience
Unless you have a dedicated Social Media Coordinator to manage their interactions, attempting to target too many people at once will be time consuming and dilute your message. The more tailored your target market, the easier it will be to design content you know will resonate with them. That isn’t to say that you can’t have more than one. If you market to both businesses and individuals, for example, you can alternate content to suit both markets or post different content on different platforms. So which platform is best for reaching which customer?
Choosing the right platform
Social media platforms each have their benefits, but attempting to manage a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram account at the same time can often result in inactive accounts. While they all serve different purposes, LinkedIn is one that is relevant for all professionals looking to network. Which other accounts you chose is a matter of your personal needs, but try to keep it to a minimum to ensure you can be active enough on each to gain value. While any or all of these channels can be utilised, a coordinated approach works most efficiently to ensure a consistent voice. Services such as HootSuite or TweetDeck allow you to monitor all feeds in the one place to save time and regulate your presence, and cost nothing.
Build a strategy
Once you’ve chosen the right network(s) for your organisation, you need to have a think about what your strategy will be. Are you trying to establish yourself as an industry expert? Are you trying to build a social community? Are you trying to educate? Spamming your followers with a barrage of links is both unnecessary and unwise. Quality, not quantity, should reign supreme. By committing to post X days per week, following specific Twitter conversations or LinkedIn groups and having some strategy in the content you post, you can maximise your benefit from minimum output. The key to gaining traction from your social media use ultimately boils down to strategy. Knowing who you want to target, where you need to be to reach them and how you will do it will help you to maximise your social media presence with limited resources.