The Net’s Most Wanteds

Social media may be a new tool, but it works best when some basic marketing principles apply. First of all, social media will only work effectively when it’s part of a plan.

Get a Plan
Many companies fail to market effectively because they don’t have a marketing plan that’s based on their business plan goals. A surprising number of solo professionals don’t even have a business plan! As they say, failing to plan is really planning to fail. This is true for social media as with any type of communication. Marketing is only as good as its foundation, and if you aren’t clear on your business goals (“make more money” is not a business plan-level goal), then your marketing will be imprecise, your message will be muddled and your results will be unimpressive (but how would you know if you have no plan by which to measure them?).

Social media works best when it is part of an overall marketing plan. It should be targeted to a specific segment of your target audience, and its message should reinforce and extend your overall marketing themes. Social media is a great way to deepen relationships with existing clients and prospects and to reach a whole new group of potential prospects whom you might never have otherwise had the chance to meet. It can also help you create and sustain a two-way dialogue and drive traffic to your other sites.

You should know what you hope to gain from using a marketing tool, whether you’re using social media, traditional advertising, PR or direct mail. You should have a budget for time and money and some quantifiable idea of return. Your marketing actions should be linked directly to the business plan goal advanced by that action to keep you grounded in return-on-investment. Your plan should make it possible for you to assess your results and decide whether or not to continue investing resources in a specific marketing action, including social media.

Know Your Audience
Social media success requires that you understand your audience, their needs, their culture and the language that moves them. Different social media sites have very different primary audiences, who go to those sites for differing reasons.

For example, Facebook is primarily a social site, where business takes on a more conversational, low-key approach. Meeting new people on Facebook is easy and encouraged, and it’s ok to approach total strangers and invite them to become “friends” on the basis of shared interests or people you know in common. On the other hand, LinkedIn is a power networking site with very strict rules about who you should invite or accept into your network (only people you actually know in real life) and with penalties for breaking the rules.

You will probably find many people on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but they will react differently depending on where you approach them. This isn’t so different from realizing that a business person may act differently at the office than when you encounter them after hours in a local pub.