My Biz is on Social Media, Now What? 5 Tips from a Potential Customer

First off, congratulations are in order if your business has taken that giant leap of faith and dove head first into the murky waters that is Social Media (SM).  The pressure to prove the value of taking on such an endeavor can be great, and no, there is not a magic indicator to show an accurate Return on Investment (ROI).  You just have to believe in what you are doing and what you're gut is telling you.  Just like scuba diving, you will need to be patient while you learn to use the equipment and you will bump into a few unseen obstacles along the way.  Since there is no real clear path to SM Rockstar status, people will forgive the occasional slip ups as you find your way.  However,  here are a few newbie SM faux pas avoidance Tips from Your Potential Customer:

1. Be Social. The key to Social Media is just that, social.  Don't use your accounts as a one way street and only post ads about your product/service. Talk with your customer... Listen to the feedback... Respond to their Concerns... Answer their Questions.  You save a customer even 5 seconds of time giving out some info that could be found elsewhere (e.g. your address, phone number), the good will it generates can be counted in the win column every time.
2. Don't Link Bomb.  There is a tendency to want to push all of your site's highlights, upcoming events, sales, promotions, and what not out through your SM stream.  *Don't*  I repeat Don't.  Link bombing is a straight up ROI move with a tremendous downside: it can alienate the people your are trying to get your message out to.  They are already bombarded by messages in every other medium and doing this in SM will just fatigue them even further.  People want to make good connections, have that back and forth to know that the products or services they use care about them as much as they care about it.
3. No Automation.  Sure, programs or scripts that automatically publish your message on the time schedule you want to have them sent out are handy.  However, SM peeps do not want to see it and in fact get annoyed when it happens.  Two primary examples: Don't autorespond to somebody when they start following you.  Don't autopublish several messages in a row with the latest blog posts/content from your site.  People will just ignore it.
4. Don't Fake It.  Either you want to have positive interactions with your customers or you don't.  Either way, people can spot a phony.  Once they do, your brand is damaged in that persons mind.  The best policy is to just be yourself, respond how you want others to respond to you, and don't put anything in your SM stream that you do not truly mean or can back up.
5. Provide Free WiFi. If you operate a brick and mortar store location (especially restaurants), you really should consider offering your customers this as a free service.  Mobile phones have come a long way to provide connectivity in your pocket, but sometimes it is not enough.  Decent meeting spaces are at a premium and your customer may choose another location based solely on wifi as a criterion. Besides, if they are happy in your place of business, they may end up giving you props on their SM networks thus providing you with good word of mouth.

Posted via email from ejhildreth's posterous