When used correctly, social media platforms can generate potential customers, brand awareness and also improve customer satisfaction. But as with all engineering marketing tactics, there are right and wrong ways to use each social media platform. Here are a few tips and techniques we’ve acquired while running social media campaigns.

Choose the right platform
The most important advice anyone can offer is that you choose the right platform for your company. If your potential customers are on Twitter or Facebook, don’t look for opportunities on Google+ as all your efforts will be counter productive. Similarly, there are many highly specific social media outlets designed for each industry, from LinkedIn groups to many bespoke platforms.

Always interact with your audience
Engagement is key! If your page looks like it’s run by robots who announces things but don’t speak to anybody, then people are less likely to interact with you in turn.

Show interest in posts
It helps to build relationships and your followers may return the favour.

Respond to ALL feedback
Whether positive or negative you need to respond to all the feedback you receive. In the event that it is negative, staying quiet will only draw more attention to it. Therefore it is best to reply and work towards making the feedback positive.

Broadcast but don’t spam
It’s always exciting to hear about your new blog post, news story or product, but more than one of each a day on a busy network like Twitter will only irritate other users. On a quieter network, like LinkedIn, you may need to be even less noisy.

Focus on quality not quantity
A large amount of followers is great but anybody with a pocket full of cash can get this. The important thing is the quality of the earned relationships with your followers. When faced with the choice of 100’s of irrelevant followers, or a handful of strong ones who could turn into potential customers / employees, it’s obvious which is more beneficial.

Don’t express mindless dislike for anything
Not liking something is fine, but expressing that dislike without an understanding of the subject will only cause offence.
Leave politics to the experts – We all like to think we know about politics, but the truth is a lot of us aren’t as educated as we’d like to be, therefore it’s wise to keep your political opinions offline. However if it happens to be about the politics of your industry, then of course you should have a say. For example, a new legislation, new regulations and directives are all fair game.

So, once you’ve mastered these tips, then get amongst em and get Tweeting or Vineing or Facebooking or LinkedIning… Well, you get the picture!

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk