Improving Your Social Networking Efforts

Over the past year, there have been a lot of great social media sites that have emerged. Everyone feels pulled one way or the other when it comes to social media. Most people don’t want to miss out on the latest and greatest social networking sites; however, jumping into the next big fad isn’t always the best idea. Here are some ways to make the most of your social networking.

Snoop Around. Don’t focus too much on how much web traffic certain social media sites are receiving. Instead, take a closer look at what the competitors are doing on social networking sites. You will want to take a look at the sites that are working the best for others that work in your industry. You can observe beforehand, which can save you a lot of time down the road.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are customers actually engaging on the sites?
• Which posts get the most response?
• How can you take ideas from competitors and make them work for you?

Consider Your Staff. Once you have decided on an effective social media strategy, you will want to consider which staff members will be the best to help you with certain channels. Each social networking site has a different personality. One member of your staff may be best at Twitter, while others may do better with Pinterest, Facebook, or Tumblr. Make the most of the personalities of your team members. Some people may be much more comfortable with social media than others.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Who would work best on each platform?
• Does your team have the ability to manage all of your sites effectively?
• Is your bandwidth an issue?

Make Commitments. When you make commitments to certain channels, you will want to stick with them. You should also be aware of when you should call it quits. You will want to commit to a plan, set time frames, and have attainable goals. Don’t just hope that what you are doing will actually work, make sure that you see to it that it does work for you.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have attainable goals?
• Are you having to push customers to use a site they don’t like?
• When is it time to stop a certain social media effort?

These processes will help to ensure that your social media efforts are more productive. You will want to make sure that your efforts remain natural for both you and your customers. There may be sites out there that are simply not for you and others that seem to be made JUST for you.