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10 Simple Steps to Leverage Social Media for your Organization

The lack of a social media campaign will likely not be the solitary reason for an organization’s downfall. It’s entirely possible to exist without social media, but companies that want to thrive, rather than just survive, need to understand and embrace being socially connected in this modern age.

Here are 10 important steps to getting your organization engaged in social media

1. Claim Your Real Estate. If you don’t claim your space on the Internet, someone else will. For instance, if Tripepi Smith & Associates didn’t hold claim to our name on all social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn being the most important at this point in time), someone else could come claim them for their own, traipsing around the virtual world using our name. It is vital to claim your real estate online so that no other organization can cause confusion (intentionally or not) by posing as you.
2. Protect Your Brand. Once you have claimed your real estate, take a few minutes to upload your logo and a brief description of what you do. Steps one and two are the bare minimum an organization (or individual for that matter) should take to protect the good reputation of their brand.
3. Increase Brand Awareness. So you’ve carved out a space for yourself in the social media sphere, and made it your own. Now what? Now you can begin to see the benefits of truly engaging in social media. The first is increased brand awareness. Every time you post something or share someone else’s post, it goes up along side your name and logo. The more you engage, the more you spread awareness of your brand.
4. Invite your friends. Build the power of your online presence by inviting your friends to “like” your Facebook page. If you have a newsletter, add links to your social media outlets and encourage people to click on them. Include links with your email signature. Add icons to your website header or sidebar so that they are ever-present (notice the links at the top of the page here – in fact, go ahead and click on one to see what the latest is with Tripepi Smith).
5. Work the SEO. Search for “best city manager.” What results do you get? It changes all the time because search engines are continuously updating what websites best fulfill any given query. Using key words (in this case “best city manager”) on your website, and in social media increases the chances that search engines will find your website when someone searches for those terms. This is Search Engine Optimization. If your company is presented on the first page of search returns, more people will visit your website. This is the benefit of SEO, and a key indicator that your social media campaign is off to a good start.
6. Listen to the Conversation. It’s fine (expected even) that you will share you own news on social media, but don’t forget the social part. Interact with people without selling, share their news, or comment on posts about their business. Once you’re part of the online conversation, you can listen to what people are saying. You will suddenly have your finger on the pulse. You will be better able to predict trends, and respond to market demand.
7. Observe What Your Competitors Are Doing. You will also be able to see what your competitors are up to. You need not “Like” your competitors to check out their profiles from time to time. What promotions are they offering? What new products? With that knowledge you can decide whether you want to compete head on, or offer something slightly different to target a slice of the market that they are missing.
8. Develop Targeted Marketing. Knowing exactly what your target audience wants, and what your competitors are doing, allows you to create highly focused marketing campaigns. You will spend less and see a higher ROI on your advertising dollars.
9. Use Analytics to Inform Your Efforts. We recommend reviewing your analytics every six months. If your website had a spike in visits after you tweeted about a particular service you provide, that’s a clue that people are interested in what you’re offering. You may be surprised to see what people are clicking over to view. It’s free data that can help you shape your business.
10. Ask Customers What You Could Improve. One of the most often overlooked benefits of social media is the ability to simply ask your customers/clients what you can do for them. It would cost a lot of money to survey them in person (creating forms, hiring staff to conduct the survey, taking the time to process the results), but online it can be done in minutes.

In short, social media opens up a world of options for engaging with customers/clients. If you’re not participating, you are simply not taking advantage of the resources available to you.