Should Social Media Be Part of Your Strategy?

I guess it’s time to start talking about social media here.  Over the last three months the frequency and consistency that I’m asked about social media has multiplied (I was even interviewed by Strategic Coach on using social media), and I’m regularly seeing growth companies make some crucial mistakes with social media.

The promise and potential of social media is astounding…when it’s done right.  Here are some important pointers to determine if you should be taking advantage of social media, and to ensure you do it right.

• Social media is one of the last steps in an effective outreach effort; it is absolutely not one of the first.  Social media is a great tool for pointing to and curating content; however, if you don’t have substantial or valuable content social media will not drive any value to you.

• Don’t be selfish.  There are two rules to follow to make social media work for you:
  
  
  • Spend at least 2/3^rd of your effort creating value and making your posts/updates/tweets about them, and no more than 1/3^rd about you.
  
  
  • For every piece of content or news about that comes from you or your company, make sure you share/point to at least 3 items that come from others.
  
  
  

• Social media platforms are the antithesis to broadcasting; so, stop all the one-way conversations.  To succeed you engage.  That’s right, you’ve got to reach out to others and respond to those reaching out to you.  The failure to engage will doom the effort.  This point is probably the most important.  My friend Gini Dietrich follows this rule better than anyone I know, and she’s built an absolutely amazing following and community through social media.  While she’s a genius, it wasn’t her genius that built the community, it was her discipline to this rule.

• Social media is a long game tactic, not a short game.  You must have effective metrics in place identifying and supporting what causes sales to ensure that your efforts pay off.

If you’d like to learn how to integrate social media into developing effective lead generation campaigns, make sure you register for our next free webinar Developing B2B Lead Generation Campaigns…That Work.