I have had a bit more thought about using social media. As I have said before I have been using various methods of social media for a long time, and not always good. Some of the tips and suggestions I use and have been helpful to me. They may or may not be useful to you and I would suggest researching the subject thoroughly first.
The main reason I use social media is to get better search rankings, improve branding, improve exposure, build networking and business relationships and for customer relations. I don’t use it just to generate disco bookings or enquiries.
A good tip I did receive before was to think what the customer would like to read before you post, blog or tweet. Think what your site or page visitor wants to read and see from you. These are the people you want to attract and want to make a good impression no matter how they come across you.
Try to write and focus on your content and not direct marketing. You ultimate goal is to get people to like what they see and share it with their own friends or groups.
Remember to update regularly but not over the top. Personally there is nothing worst and frustrating than finding someone who makes a post or update every 5 minutes about all aspects of their lives. I usually delete people straight away who do this as it annoys the hell out of me.
I usually try to make at least one post a day. Like I said before I try to mention another company or professional who I network with. This works on two levels. It makes the person feel important that you have gone out your way to notice them and suggest them and they will hopefully do the same for you. You then reach a much greater target area.
All their clients then are potentially yours as well.
Use keyword phrases in posts and blogs but don’t go over the top. Using anchor text in things you link to also leaves a digital footprint and may do more harm than good as it may look like you are trying to manipulate search engine results.
Remember not to just link to your website home page. Provide links to other pages in your site and make a point in mentioning and commenting on these. For example in stead of just writing “ please take a look at our new website at
www.adisco.com” maybe say “ have a look at our fantastic new range of uplighting packages that are available to hire form £100 at
www.adisco.com/uplighting”.
Use the social networking to introduce all aspects of your business and discuss these. For example you may be known for providing a great mobile disco but people might not be aware you do karaoke, dance floors, uplighting, staging, hire, décor etc… use the social media to give exposure to these extra services that people may not associate with you.
When I first started using facebook, I thought all other disco companies were competitors and only on my page to be nosy to see what we are doing. Well I was totally wrong. When I looked from a wider perspective I thought of the advantage. Try and use competitors to your advantage. Use them to exchange links, team up with and network with.
If you are following other competitors, a good bit of advice I read was not to ask for favours. If you are following another local company I just purely comment on photos and posts. For example if they post a photo of a gig, I just post nice set up, where was the venue.
The tip says “Don’t ask for favours and don’t flaunt the favours you do. Simply follow, comment on, link to, or otherwise become “known” to select publishers in your niche and they will notice and generally begin to reciprocate. Given time the relationship will form naturally and be mutually beneficial”.
Try to get involved ion discussions, reply to blog posts and ask for feedback where necessary. Remember to act on any response you get. A friend of mine makes a common mistake here. He is very big on health food and cooking and has been on TV and in many books and magazines. He has a large following on his facebook page. He has a lot of posts from people who follow him asking for advice and information. If I read down the page at the questions people are asking him 7 times out of 10 he never has replied as he is too busy.
To me this does not look good and you should make an effort to reply to anyone that interacts and communicates with you.
Remember to be careful what you write, your personal views and beliefs should not be aired if using for business. Again a friend I know who runs a motorbike shop made a big mistake here. He organised a local open day and advertised it on facebook and created an event. Not many people turned up and in his frustration, he made a post on his business page/profile saying “thanks for the support you bar stewards”!!!
Straight away he received a lot of back lash and in my opinion damaged his professional rep in a split second of heated posting.