I could see that traditional advertising and public relations efforts were not going to work for long. I had no real objectives other than I knew how important the internet was for our future as a company. At first, I concentrated and experimented with my own platforms. Later, I used what I had learned for Writers Write.
Seven years, and more than 300,000 personal followers and another 300,000 business followers, later, these are the most important things I learned.
1. I learned to focus on the client. If you ask 'What's in it for us?', you will fail. People join social media platforms to be part of a community. Rather ask: 'How can we help our customers?' By providing entertaining and valuable content, we have created a customer base.
2. I learned the value of being there. If you are going to do this, you have to be committed, and that means you have to post content on your major social media platform every day. Consistency is crucial. People get used to you. They will come to you for information, guidance, ideas, and assistance. Yes, people come to you. This reward is the most valuable commodity there is for a business.
3. I let our followers' behaviour speak for itself. I learnt what people like and what they are not interested in. The people who visit your website or blog because of the content you have shared on social media tell you how you are doing. If those people buy into your business or product because they like what they see there, then you are succeeding.
4. I learned that attitude is important. I learnt that we should be generous, honest, and open to feedback. We did not have to do what customers wanted us to do, but we at least let them have their say. I also realised that we had to behave well.
5. I learned that everything changes. When you get involved on a day-to-day basis, you see that there is so much uncharted territory. We could not follow someone else's rules. We had to make our own, and then change them when social media changed. Planning is great, but being aware is better.
6. I learned that it takes time. There is no quick fix. I had to work on each of these platforms for a good two years before they started working for us. When I see the latest social media figures, I'm glad I did.
7. I learned that social media is not a real conversation, but it is a way to interact in real-time with your followers. Everything we did had to be aimed at giving as much as we could in order to have the platform to share our messages in real time.
I am sure that I will learn much more as this media continues to evolve and I look forward to it.
If you want to find out more about how to do this, join us for The Social Brand, our social media workshop.
