Ingredients to Success
The Right Platform
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all social networks are worth your time. You need to ensure that you’re using the right combination of platforms. Research will help you determine where your audience lives online, and where your efforts are best spent.
The Right Presence
It’s not enough to create a profile on your target networks. You have to put in the time and effort to build a presence. Not only that, but you’ve got to create the right presence. You’ll need to really engage your audience, and that’s not possible with infrequent updates or publishing only promotional content.
Connect
One of the most important elements to success in the world of social media can be found right in the name – you must be “social”. That means you have to engage and interact with your audience on a regular basis. You have to connect. You have to build real relationships. No longer can businesses afford to be faceless entities. You need to let your audience get to know your business, and you must get to know your audience.
Frequency
How often do you post on each network your business uses? Too little and you’ll fail to engage your audience. Too much, and they will “tune out” or even unfollow you. You must strike a balance here, and that can be difficult to do. Add to that the fact that engaging through social networks is time consuming, and takes away from the time available for you to grow your business in other ways.