Social Media Marketing:the Rules of Engagement

Back to basics

Don’t lose sight of what ‘marketing’ really is. It’s not just about advertising and selling…

“The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying

customer requirements profitably”(Chartered Institute of Marketing)

Keep this definition in mind when using social media marketing and you’re halfway there!

What is social media marketing (SMM)?

Using social media tools (like Twitter and Facebook) as part of your marketing toolkit, to connect with customers and other stakeholders and support a wide range of marketing disciplines/activities:

Marketing researchMarketing planning/managementProduct/service developmentRelationship management/customer servicesBrand awareness/managementPromotional activities

Rule 1: Be part of the community

The clue’s in the word “social”Etiquette is similar to face-to-face networkingThese sites are communities, and these communities are not terribly tolerant of people who use these sites as personal billboards, broadcasting nothing but ads/self-promotion“Listen” to what people are saying, and join in – as you would in a face-to-face networking eventRetweet/share friends’/fans’/followers’ requests for help, and introduce newcomers

Rule 2: Be humanPeople generally prefer to converse with other people, so keep automation to a minimumIt’s fine to talk about your pets, your kids, your holiday etc – shows you’re real and you have a personality – but don’t overdo itDon’t talk about anything you wouldn’t happily discuss with strangers at a networking eventConversation is a two-way thing; remember to listen and respondNever forget that you’re representing your brand; be human, but don’t damage your brand!

Rule 3: Mind your languageYou don’t have to be a literary genius, but do watch your spelling and grammarTwitter’s space limit is 140 characters, so you’ll have to be creative (use a service like TwitLonger if a message can’t be condensed)Consider your audience and tailor your language accordingly (formal/informal/technical etc)Text speak is fine if your audience is primarily 13 year olds – but not appropriate for the majority of business communicationsAvoid sharing controversial views; the Internet has a very long memory!

Rule 4: Sharing is caringIf you have good news, whether business or personal, share it. People like good news.Share links (funny videos, new products on your website, industry/local news, etc) – but sharing should be audience-appropriateDon’t just share the same link over and over. This is spam, and people don’t like it.If a friend/follower posts a link and you feel your audience will appreciate it, share it; but always check the content is appropriate first

Rule 5: Thou shalt not spamIn most (but not all) cases, posting nothing but links to your own website will be considered ‘spamming’Posting the same link or story over and over again is spammy – try a bit of variety!If you’re posting an affiliate link, disclosure is considered politeAgain, avoid over-automation. A Twitter profile consisting of nothing but auto-tweets whenever a user mentions one of your keywords may cause your account to be reported/blocked

Typical ‘spammy’ Twitter userI Tweeted a question about WordPress themes to a user I follow, and almost instantly received an auto-reply from a random user with a link to a WordPress themes websiteChecked their profile: all Tweets were in a similar vein – nothing to suggest a human user at all. So I reported them and blocked them (I do this every time!)Their account had disappeared within a couple of hours. Twitter does take spam reports seriously – so be careful!

Handy hints for TwitterWrite a descriptive biography. Before people decide to follow you, they’ll want an idea of who they’re dealing with.For smaller businesses, it’s better to use a photo of yourself, not your logo (you can create a background image and include your logo in that instead). There are exceptions to this, for example if more than one team member uses your account.Try to limit sales/promotional messages to 5-10% of your total output.Don’t worry too much about the number of people following you. Quality is far more important than quantity.

Cat got your tongue?People often worry that they’d have nothing to talk about on Twitter; here’s a few suggestions:

The weather. Very British, but we all do it in real life, and it’s a good conversation starterLinks to helpful articles about business issues, or your industry, or your local area – these can kick-start interesting discussionsProjects you’re working on (if it’s a client project, avoid potential confidentiality breaches)Market research: ask questions, respond to answersRun a Twitter-only competitionShare ideas and ask for feedback

Non-business Tweets from business Tweeters

Handy hints for FacebookFacebook generally works better for B2C, tourism, community projects etc – but don’t rule it out if you’re B2B; can still work wellMuch more flexible than Twitter: photos, videos, longer conversations, ‘notes’, customisable landing pages, etc.Create a page rather than group or profile: more features, better interactivity, user stats etcRemember to check for ‘hidden’ posts on your page’s wall; FB sometimes assumes posts from your fans are spam, when they’re notInvite your real friends to ‘like’ your page, and ask them to invite their other friends too

Further reading

Interesting article by Marketing Week about social media use by FTSE100 companies – worth a read: http://tinyurl.com/ftse-twitterArticle on my blog about Twitter/Facebook habits that irritate me: http://tinyurl.com/twitter-idiotsHow raving fans create huge profits (Business Zone article): http://tinyurl.com/smm-raving-fansMy articles on EzineArticles about Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/debs-articles

Get in touch…

debs@debbidoo.com01286 400 159http://twitter.com/debbidoowww.debbidoo.com