Social media can engage customers

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Q: I’m a middle-aged business owner who needs to get savvy with social media trends and apply it to my business. Any tips?

A: Social media is touted by the experts as the new Dark Art. But it’s not a hard concept to grasp, and you can go a fair way reading blogs, articles and looking around who is doing what in your industry. That said, starting from scratch can be confusing. There are tricks, short cuts and pitfalls that a social media expert can help you with.

First up, do some observing. It’s easy to set up an account on LinkedIn or Twitter, connect with a few people and topics to watch what happens.

Don’t use your business name just yet; use a nom de plume or your personal identity to experiment with. You can learn a lot this way.

Read up on basic terminology; find out what a “hashtag” is, learn what it means to “retweet”. There are free online seminars but a teenage connection somewhere close will school you as fast as anyone will.

Once you have tried a couple of social media platforms and think you know your Facebook from your Four Square, it’s worth looking at what you want to achieve from social media.

This is where someone who has done it before, either a friendly social media savvy business owner or a consultant can help draft up some goals. Don’t believe the hype that social media is free. It costs to get good advice, and it takes time and resources to do it properly.

The value of social media strategy is the “pull” – creating a voice and personality for your business that people want to engage with. This allows people to “click” with your brand, to follow you and for your message to extend through the networks you are part of.

Steve O’Connor, GM of Creative HQ business incubator.

A: The number one tip is do not focus on the tools – focus on the message and intent. Social media is just a fast and efficient way to engage with customers.

Be clear around your customer value proposition, brand positioning and market segments as if you were talking to them at your local cafe face to face.

Social media is about giving to your target market, listening and being there to answer questions that arise.

Do not bombard your market with spam messages, just directly selling your product.

It does not take long to learn the basic tools.

One thing that is for sure is you cannot ignore this important customer engagement model. Start by listening first, before mindlessly broadcasting.

Mark Robotham – GM Escalator Investment Ready Service – building investment ready businesses, blog: succinct.co.nz

If you want to ask a question of either of our experts, email jenny.keown@fairfaxmedia.co.nz

– BusinessDay

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