A question that has popped up on a fairly regular basis recently is how to get started with social media. As much as there’s a lot of excitement about social media, the fact is many companies are just starting to dip their toes in the water.
The first step is to listen to what’s being said within the social media landscape. This may come across as simple and straightforward advice, but listening to the conversations about your company, products and brand will offer a good sense of what’s happening and, as important, what you need to do.
Many companies, however, don’t embrace this approach. Instead, they jump into social media, and head off madly in various directions – blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, et al.
Unfortunately, they end up do a lot of things badly, and then wonder why none of their efforts are generating any traction – be it more Web site traffic, better customer service, a stronger brand or more sales.
A more sensible approach to social media is listening to discover where the most activity is happening. Then, you can determine the best strategic and tactical plans. If, for example, there is a lot of chatter on Twitter about your company, products, industry and competitors, then that is a platform that should be embraced.
On the other hand, if you discover that there is not much happening on Facebook even though it has 350 million users, it may not be worth investment much, if any, time in.
While listening seems like an easy to thing to do, it can be difficult because it requires focus, patience and willingness to think before acting. We live in a digital world in which multi-tasking reigns supreme. This means listening is often just one part of the overall mix.
But for any company really looking to take a solid first step in social media, listening is crucial.
How to Get Started With Social Media: Listen
By Mark Evans - Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
