The Unique Benefit of Social Media

Did you join any social network to be sold to? I didn’t think so. I’ve not met anyone who has and I doubt that I ever will. Yet, every day, my timelines and newsfeeds are littered with people who only talk about the services or products they sell.

If that’s you, then you need to have a rethink of your strategy. For a start, that’s not what your audience is looking for. Your audience wants to know who you are, the personality behind your brand, what you stand for, etc.

Imagine going to a dinner party and coming across someone who stands there and rabbles on about how great they are. How long would you give it before making an excuse to get as far away as you can? The audience you’re trying to reach on social media are no different, and will feel the same if you’re not careful.

As Digital Analyst and Author, Brian Solis, brilliantly wrote “Social Media has more to do with sociology and anthropology that technology.”

More than any aspect of social media, the words I find myself emphising more than any others are “social” and “engaging”. It’s also what makes social media stand out amongst other marketing platforms.

The wonderful thing about social media is that it gives you the opportunity to put yourself out there and create meaningful engagement with your audience. But in order to be likeable, you need to provide good, quality content, engage with respondents, and be smart about how you do it.

Action Point

• Plan your content and activility to ensure that you’re more empowering, educational, even entertaining,
• Search for keywords in social networks that will alert you to conversations you join in on.
• Ask questions — Ask for opinions — Be interested and interesting.

If you want to know some of the best ways to engage with your audience then get in touch.

What are the best examples of engaging brands on social media? And what are some of the worst?

This post originally appeared at http://www.edagoodman.com/the-unique-benefit-of-social-media/