Social Media Strategy

Whether you’re a small business trying to increase brand visibility or an independent contractor making a name for yourself, formulating a solid social media strategy is becoming increasingly important in attaining your goals. As you likely know already, social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, DIgg, and LinkedIn have revolutionized the marketplace in a ubiquitous way. And for those with ambition, they present a fantastic opportunity. A good social media strategy, in fact, can work more effectively than traditional forms of advertising in generating interest for whatever it is you have to offer. So, in order to help you take advantage of this fantastic resource, let’s delve into the specifics of how a sound social media strategy works.

What You’ll Need:

• Facebook, Twitter, and Digg Accounts
• The time and motivation to manage them
• An understanding of web culture and targeted consumers  

1. Facebook is the number one social media website to incorporate in your strategy. The reason for this comes down to pure statistics. As of today, Facebook membership numbers in the hundreds of millions worldwide, giving you an unfathomably huge market to work with. Most entities find success by creating an account for their product, service, or personal brand, and making a “fan page” to promote it. Begin by inviting your own circle of friends, and update the page with interesting news about your topic or business. Additionally, running incentives to join the fan page (such as contests, no matter how small the prize is) will generate interest and ultimately drive more people to your page.
2. For quick doses of communication, Twitter is the social media website of choice. Because it’s so easy to start and maintain, creating a Twitter account is a great way to strengthen your social media strategy. The aim, of course, is to build a large amount of “followers”, who will see the 140 character updates you post on your entity’s (or personal) Twitter page. Think of it as a miniature blog, and use it accordingly. A constant stream of just ads and links to your business or personal website, for instance, will likely be passed up by heavy Twitter users. To use it effectively, you should keep your updates (called “Tweets” by insiders) timely, brief, and valuable.
3. If something really interesting is happening within your industry or personal brand, try promoting it with Digg. This website works by having users submit articles, which are then read and “upvoted” by the site’s other users. Articles that reach the site’s top page are seen by thousands of people. It’s not quite as essential in your social media strategy as the first two, but using Digg is a good way to generate awareness. If you have an exceedingly interesting press release or are participating in a cool event, for example, find or write some high-quality unique content about it and submit it. If the Digg community likes it, your story will be exposed to a large, tech-savvy market.
4. In general, two qualities are essential in all social media strategies. No matter the website, those that see your social media efforts should notice two things: synergy and genuineness. Synergy, as it is used here, means the connection of all of your endeavors on different social media websites. For instance, you can link to your Twitter page on your Facebook profile, and vice versa. When done with care, this can have a multiplier effect on the amount of people exposed to your personal or professional brand. Genuineness, meanwhile, should be pretty obvious. No good social media strategy has “spammy”, fishy, fake-looking content. Take care to ensure that your social media presence is perceived the way you want it to be – legitimate, and hopefully “cool”. If it is, the chances of success for your social media strategy are much, much higher.