Get engaged and understand social media

Image courtesy of PR Daily, 2012

There is so much noise about social media, about having a voice and a suite of portals to tell your story. And there is no doubt about social media, it is here to stay in an ever-increasing form.

But how do we - managers and practitioners - keep up to date with what works, and what doesn't. And how do we even begin to understand the impact of social media, the voice for story telling and the audience to follow and listen? And with so much information online and in the press about this topic - from the ridiculous to the obscure - it has become increasingly challenging to comprehend and act with confidence.

With this myriad of information in mind, I thought it was the right time to put some of the social media "news" in context, and map out some thoughts.

Firstly, let's condense and acknowledge that social media is now a major form of communication for both B2B, B2C and C2C. With context social media showcases:

• we live in a young world, with over 50% of the population being under 30
• social media is the number one web based activity
• if Facebook was a country it would be the 3rd largest
• 93% of marketers use social media for business
• 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations.

Accept this and begin to grasp the social media mantra of today.

I will put aside discussion around emails and blogs, as these have been part of some of our lives forever, and for the rest of us, about 15 years.

Social media mostly takes in the form of four mediums; video (YouTube), images (Flickr), social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Google + and LinkedIn), and microbloging (Twitter). Each medium is interactive and compatible with each other (using collaborative programs such as HootSuite ).

However each of these mediums requires a different voice, often has a variety of audiences and tones. To establish your business voice, and/or your customer voice, spend some time playing around with the tone, check on how your audience engages with you. What is working, what is falling flat. Use social media to actively seek partners, customers, and promoters. Dedicate some online time to finding these people and organisations - usually a starting point is compiling a list of those organisation you communicate with off line. These are great for sending a connection to and inviting to like, follow, listen, and look.

To give an example; think about Twitter as a strategic connection with organisations and individuals who are possible partners, businesses and people of influence who will talk about, follow and interact. Facebook on the other hand is often considered as a way to connect with customers - promoting events and competitions.

Twitter is often easier to understand as the character limits of 140 keep messages concise. However avoid using too many abbreviations as these can be confusing and provide a difficult reading experience. The use of # tags and short links can enhance the tweet and align the tweet to a specific audience and group. Some great # tags in the social enterprise sector are:

• #socentau = social enterprise (in Australia)
• #socent = social enterprise (globally)
• #socinn = social innovation
• #socentsummit = social enterprise forum.

Do some of your own research to include additional #tags to your tweet feed - target your town, city and region, your industry and your passions. And before using a #tag search to ensure the tag represents the conversation you wish to engage.

Facebook is the source of much research at present as the changes to "pages" has meant many business have had to re-gig their voice and customer interaction. Some tips on fan engagement are:

• post on Facebook between the hours of 8pm and 7am (can use predetermined scheduling to do this). This non-busy time has shown a higher engagement with likes and comments
• Wednesday and Sundays are good posting days, and no more than two posts per day. Try to stick to no more than four posts per week so as not to overcrowd news feeds
• keep posts short,  be concise and ask questions to get fans talking, and include the use of "fill the blank" questions
• keys words such as coupons and $ off work well
• and use text only and short links to compress links.

However the most important component of social media is to find the one or two or three mediums that suit you and your organisations. Play around with the voice and engage with your community. Do it and do it well.