Branding With Social Media

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If you're currently running a business I'm sure that by this point you have been advised that social media is the place to be for promoting. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube are your best friends for free and potentially effective advertisement. Thing is, in order for these social media outlets to be as effective as they can for your brand, they must be spectacularly utilized.

Every business you can think of currently has a Facebook/Twitter page. They're everywhere. What's pointless is when said business only has 12 followers and about 55 friends (and these are just co-workers). There is no reason why these platforms that are so easy to utilize are so mismanaged. And yes, if the fore mentioned numbers reflect your social networking pages, in any way, you are definitely going about this all wrong.

I recently came across a Mashable.com article detailing the things that can be done to help specific industries with their network branding so. In true fashion, it's only right that I offer my 2 cents. I'm no guru or anything, but I do consider myself to know a thing or two about how to work these sites. Hopefully, ...
... the countless hours that I've spent on them have offered me something more than a few mouth-drops and chuckles.

First things first: to get a huge following on Twitter you must tweet. That advice probably sounds a little ridiculous because it seems so obvious but you would be surprised as to how many businesses haven't tweeted in months. It's the quickest way to get unfollowed. Tweet all the time. If you don't have the time to tweet, find somebody who does. Perhaps if you tweet more you may be lucky enough to get a re-tweet which could lead to more followers.

Don't just tweet anything. We (speaking on behalf of follower's here) hate that. Tweet something witty (this'll have folks following for sure). Tweet the most interesting thing about your business happenings that you can think of. Tweet a deal that you're offering—but make it a good one. Tweet a quote if you can't come up with anything else. For goodness sake, just tweet something. One thing about those on Twitter, they love to tweet-watch. Bring some excitement to a timeline and just see how far you'll go.

Next word of advice for you, don't just open a Facebook page and think your work is done. Signing up for Facebook is only the beginning. You may have noticed that when Googling some businesses now, their Facebook page is one of the first things that you see. Who wants to click your page only to be met with a 4 month old status update? Not I, that's for sure! I want pictures! I can't tell you how long I sit flipping through photo albums while soaking in envy. Post pictures that make your business seem like the most fantastic place offering the most amazing products/services on earth. If you're selling something as dull as rocks I'm not exactly sure how you're going to accomplish this but you have to be creative. Also update your status—often.

I could offer you a few more tips but I'll pause for now while you master these basics. The bottom line here: Lots of updates and make them count! I usually don't give advice this golden away for free, so consider yourself lucky.