7 Common Sense Best Practices For Using Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing has truly hit the mainstream. Everywhere you look people are inviting you to visit them on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. And as a Social Media Marketing Specialist I am thrilled!

But, and there is always a “but”, if you plan to use Social Media to market yourself online, don’t think that just because it is new there are no rules. Good business practices will always win over shoddy ones. People will always feel a little leery of spending money online so it is your job to make your prospects and customers feel like they know you, like you and trust you as a person. Social Media is the perfect venue for accomplishing that but there are no shortcuts to success.

Here is my list of the 7 most important best practices for making your prospects feel comfortable enough with you to take that next step and actually spend their money with you online.

1. Be Consistent - I cannot impress upon you enough how important this is! All of your Social Media profiles should have a consistent picture of you and provide information about what you do and how you can help your prospects. If Twitter says one thing and Facebook says another that will make your prospects nervous and nervous people do not spend money.

2. Walk Your Walk – There is no excuse for the “cobbler’s shoes” argument. (remember the cobbler never has time to fix his own shoes) If you call yourself a Social Media expert you should be active online and at least have accounts on all top networking sites. You need to follow your own best practices and actually put what you teach others into practice for yourself.

3. Check Your Information – Google your own name and your business name to make sure that the information that is reaching the top of the search engine is the information you want to be there. If it is not or worse yet, you don’t even show up on the first page it is time to create a plan to change that.

4. Follow Through Immediately! – Nothing will worry a prospect or new buyer more than silence. Because of the immediacy of the Internet, we expect contact quickly. If someone purchases a product or service from you online, make sure you have an autoresponder that goes out as soon as the transaction occurs to explain what will happen next. This should be in addition to the automatically generated invoice. You should also give your buyer some way to contact you or your assistant with additional questions.

5. Provide Professional Branded Documents – In today’s world, there is no excuse for not providing your prospects with branded, tasteful receipts, proposals, or information products. You don’t even need to pay a printer. Just design them on your computer and print as necessary.

6. Provide Excellent Customer Service – This is a no brainer, if you are using social media; you have surely heard the examples of companies who have risen from the ashes because of prompt attention to a problem that was voiced online. On the other side of the coin, mediocre customer service may not get you slammed on Twitter but it will certainly put the brakes on the wonderful viral effects of word of mouth marketing.

7. Keep Your Promises – or better yet do more than you promise – Nothing makes a prospect or client feel unappreciated more than missed appointments or not providing the information you promise in a timely fashion. Let’s face it sometimes STUFF happens and you do miss an important call or deadline but if it is a regular occurrence your client will soon be looking for somewhere else to spend their money.

If you put these business best practices into place then your Social Media Marketing Plan should yield the results you expect.