What has your social media / marketing team done lately that’s moved the bottom line?
Is your Twitter feed a wasteland of MLM folks and insurance salespeople trying to sell you a policy?
Have the amazing, witty ideas dried up and your followers backed off of your Facebook page?
Is your Google+ page a desolate digital pit of despair? (You may not be alone with this one…)
Is your LinkedIn account riddled with only job seekers and foreign-based organizations seeking to partner with you?
Friends, it happens to the best of us, and I think that social media can be an exhausting proposition for any small business / brand if the proper leadership strategy isn’t in place from the very beginning.
Social media is all about leadership. It’s not about exposing your followers to your favorite type of Starbucks coffee with non-fat, half-caf, triple espresso, multiple macchiato, etc.
It’s about being a leader.
It’s about inspiring.
It’s about educating.
It’s about fostering an amazing environment that lets followers speak up, engage and contribute to your leadership and brilliance.
Social media, at its root, is about being social. The companies / brands that are not having rich and meaningful conversations with their followers are the ones who are also complaining that social media serves no real purpose for the ROI of their brand and its marketing.
So, how, you may ask, do you become a social media leader?
You give.
You participate.
You speak with authority and don’t hold back because of self-doubt.
You don’t judge.
You help others.
You enlighten and empower others.
You stay consistent.
You don’t give up.
You don’t hide when the trolls come to social media town.
You find new ways for your tribe members (followers) to interact with you on different levels.
You elevate the conversations and bring out the best in people.
You don’t put down or beat up others with differing viewpoints.
Being a leader consists of so many things offline, and it comes with the same level of responsibility and duties online. If you’re going to use social media for your brand, use it with authority.
Use it as a platform to disseminate the good word about your business.
Use it as an amazing, rapid tool for customer service to help your prospects.
Use it as an educational mouthpiece to help your clients grow and prosper.
Use it as a powerful tool to keep your prospects in touch with your brand.
But most of all, don’t use it to waste others’ time by posting things that are only important to you or your company.
Some Social Media Leadership Tips / Ideas.
DO:
Implement a weekly or daily time where you can host a Q&A session with the members of your tribe. Stay consistent and have fun.
DO:
Introduce new ideas and pose insightful questions that can help spark worthwhile conversation amongst your followers.
DO:
Invite guest ‘tweeters’ or social media experts into your conversations so that other ideas / opinions / techniques can be introduced.
DO:
Praise the tribe followers who stand out and exhibit leadership skills of their own–elevate them within your tribe to lead more and more followers.
DO:
Mix it up from time to time with video presentations and / or infographics so that your social media channel isn’t simply just a wall of words.
DO:
Share some humor, and remember to be light in your interactions when and where appropriate. Tribe followers do love to be entertained as well.
DO:
Be the best that you can be by learning from your tribe followers. Be open minded enough to embrace and contemplate other ideas / insights.
DON’T:
Be a jerk. Easy enough.
DON’T:
Be drunk with power.
DON’T:
Alienate your audience with crude humor UNLESS your tribe is into all that.
DON’T:
Insult or discount the ideas, thoughts, contributions of others.
DON’T:
Get into fights with those who disagree with your ideas.
DON’T:
Slack Off. Consistency is the key to social media.
DON’T:
Stray into things you know nothing about. Stick to the lakes and the rivers that you’re used to.
The bottom line is this: to kick your social media up a few notches. It’s time to change the way you look at it, period.
Social media is a huge opportunity for dialogue, discussion, the exchange of ideas and concepts.
It’s a huge opportunity to enhance your product offerings by listening.
It’s a huge opportunity to regularly connect with the people who are paying your businesses’ bills.
It’s a huge opportunity to endear people to your brand with trust equity.
For more tips or assistance with a solid, strategic social media plan, call the social media marketing experts at On Target Digital Marketing today. In Orlando, 407-830-4550. Nationwide: 866-998-6886..
Best,
Tom
