Social Madness and Lessons We Learned

by | August 15, 2013

Blog written by Dawn Nelson, Equinox Business Law Group

Social media marketing is everywhere you turn. From articles in newspapers and magazines to articles online, we are told social media is at the front line of marketing and every business should be investing time into it. But why?

We’ve been active in social media for years but in our quest to understand what really works, we participated in the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Social Media Madness competition. After 8 weeks of posts, likes, and shares, we won the Seattle small category title, and we discovered a few gems and pitfalls along the way.

Here are few lessons we learned and wanted to share with you.

  1. Know your audience and what they like to see. If you don’t know…ask. Clients and customers are experts themselves and are usually happy to give feedback on what they want to hear and see from your business. Don’t be afraid to ask the question and accept the feedback graciously!
  2. Don’t be afraid to change the plan. Social media is like a living organism that changes over time – sometimes just overnight! Staying on target with the temperature of your audience is more important than sticking to “the plan.”
  3. Have fun but keep sight of who you are in your content. We found this to be one of the most challenging areas to stay in line with as we were seeking more and more content to post during the competition. Remember, your clients and guests see you in a certain light, as an expert in your field. Don’t muddy your image with content that isn’t appealing or in touch with to your audience. Have fun, but stay on target.
  4. Invest in social media tools if you are managing multiple platforms. Social media can take hours to locate content and post it on every platform. For the minimal cost of $10 per month you can invest in a platform like Hoot Suite which allows you to schedule and post to all social media platforms including:  Linked In, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. This way you can locate the day’s content and schedule it at the same time. We found this to be a must!
  5. It is a great way to engage in your community. Use social media to highlight the organizations your business gives to as well as your clients. It is a great CRM tool that costs nothing, but shows your community you care and support them.