A beginner’s guide to business social media

Laura Hampton of digital marketing agency Hallam Internet, and Spark Notts Sponsor, provides a beginners’ guide to social media.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Mar 2014, 18:45 BST
Laura HamptonLaura Hampton
Laura Hampton

Social media is one of the most powerful tools we have in our marketing toolkit. Here are our tips to help you get started with your social media ‘dinner party’:

Know Your Guests

Social media is all about engaging with your audience and offering them something of value to them. It’s essential that you understanding who they are and what they’re interested in.

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You should also know what you hope to achieve with them – are you looking to make sales, to bring in new leads, to encourage brand advocacy? Know your audience and make this the basis of your social media strategy.

Select Your Party Location

There’s no point holding a party in Glasgow if everyone you want to invite lives in Mansfield. In the same way, there’s no point trying to engage with your audience on Twitter if they’re actually more active on LinkedIn. Choose your social media platform(s) carefully.

Be the Host

Just as a good host at a dinner party will guide the conversation and make sure everyone’s comfortable, you too can apply this technique to your social media marketing.

It’s important you’re not just talking at people, but that you’re engaging in real conversations. This means not just bombarding people with sales messages, but actually taking the time to provide them something of real value.

Consider Your Menu

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You wouldn’t serve meat to a vegetarian at your party. The same applies in social media; do your research to understand what your audience likes and what will benefit them. You can use this information to identify the products/services/content that will best meet their needs.

By providing something your audience really values, you stand a far better chance of achieving your goals.

Keep in Touch

Be available to your audience beyond your social media interaction – ensure there are ways for people to get in touch and find out more via your website and consider email marketing campaigns.

Join the Spark community and enter the business idea competition, with a prize fund worth over £40,000, at www.sparknotts.com

Related topics:GlasgowMansfield