The world is exploding with social media fever, yet so few businesses really get the potential that social media offers. Or they simply believe it just isn’t worth the time or effort. The thing is, social media offers business a portal to engage with existing customers, get to know them to a certain extent, offer them advice and information and potentially get them to refer their friends and follows.

Social media doesn’t need to take a great deal of time. Nor does it need to be narcissistic. Social sharing doesn’t always need to be about promoting your business and its products and services, but rather, it should be viewed as a platform to socialise with your customer and potential customer base. Think of the market research that you could compile just by spending 10 – 15 minutes per day on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Think Outside the Square
You need to put yourself in your followers’ shoes. What do they want to read about? What are they most likely to respond to? When you have that figured out, then it is time to start posting.

For instance, if you are an accountant, then posting topics about fashion isn’t really going to appeal to your followers, but posting tax break updates, reminders and tips and advice certainly will. Maybe even the odd humorous accounting joke. Or possibly a few photographs of luxurious trips or items that could get your customers dreaming and motivated.

You don’t need to be so serious all the time, but you do need to stay within the guidelines of your company’s culture. You want your friends and follows to respond to your posts, tweets and videos; ideally, you will want them to share them with their friends. By mixing it up a little, your followers are more likely to respond positively, than they would if you were only to promote your business.

Social Media and Google
While Google is not the be-all-end-all, it certainly is a means of business for many. Social media is becoming more and more important to Google, as they see it as a natural way to assess what websites are of interest. The more followers you have who are interested in your content, then the more likely you will be seen as an authoritative figure by Google.

Engaging with Customers
Respond to your customers comments, and make sure you get back to them in a timely fashion; and don’t be scared to ask them questions – that’s what social media is all about. If you are on Twitter, make sure you comment on the people you follow – show them that you are taking notice about what they write and the content they are putting up. Social media is a two way street, and if you treat it as if you are the only person on there, then your followers and friends will eventually lose interest.

Apps to Help You
With apps such as HootSuite, Social Oomph and Bufferapp you can easily and effectively engage with your customers on a daily basis. As we said before, if you have your apps set up to work for you, you will see results.

Social media is an improved format of the old focus groups, now however it is much more advanced, and we are able to reach a much wider network. Media Messages is very active in the social media arena. As we specialise in high quality audio productions for telephone message on hold programs, we often share our work on YouTube and Facebook. Make sure you check out our work online.

We would love to hear how your business engages with your customers through social media. Or how you engage with the favourite businesses through these platforms.