Unless you’ve been hibernating for the last 12 to 18 months, you’ve probably heard about the revolution taking place in our personal and work lives. Social media gives people and businesses the power to send out small bits of information for consumption by multiple users simultaneously, once again widening our ever-widening circles of media consumption and providing more opportunities than ever for you to communicate. with customers and prospects alike. .

For people, social media offers clear benefits and advantages: a way to keep in touch with people abroad, a way to find long-lost family and friends, a way to consume media and find information like never before.

For many businesses, the benefits of social media are less than clear and many business owners find themselves embarking on it with little or no research, experience, or appreciation of what it entails or if social media marketing is really for them.

Social media can be a very powerful means of increasing brand awareness and direct selling if used correctly and if you are considering it for your business. Here are some basic tips on how to get started:

– THINK if it is relevant. It is not suitable for all types of businesses: a pop/rock band will benefit much more from social media campaigns than the local garage, for example.
– START with your eyes wide open: research the most suitable social media platforms for your business and focus on them.
– DON’T try too hard – despite all the wonderful tools available to social media marketers today – http://www.tweetdeck.com, posting can take a long time if you pull it off. It’s better to post good information on two or three high-profile sites than bad information on 100 “invisible” sites.
– DO NOT talk exclusively about one topic: mix your posts with information about the industry, your business and make sure you pass on the good information you find.
– KEEP IT short and sweet and don’t overdo the “sales” oriented messages.
– BE consistent – post regularly with different pieces of information and messages – keep it interesting for the reader USE your website’s newsfeed (if you have one) to post on social media and vice versa.

If you’re serious about social media marketing or running a campaign with no return on investment and aren’t sure where to start, please contact Karen or her team at Elan CM Ltd for more information.