Creating Social Media Guidelines for Companies
Choose the appropriate
social network. Take stock of your
target audience/ potential customers by asking the right questions:
What are their habits on the web, what are
they looking for/at?
What are they? Individuals? Professionals?
Are they very sensitive or have very sensitive
sense of community?
All these answers will
help you learn about your community, and choose the social network on which you
will deploy.
If your brand targets a population of young
consumers, go on Facebook.
If your business is aimed at professional
customers i.e. B2B (Business to Business) and you want to expand abroad, you
should be on LinkedIn.
You need to know your
community before you start creating your own community, in the same way that
you wouldn‘t have kids without at least first meeting one. Although you will discover many things about
its various members as time goes it, it is best to have some preliminary
information such as:
Potential Customers/Users expectations
Potential Customers/Users tastes
Potential Customers/Users way of expressing
themselves
This information will
establish your editorial. Address your
potential customers/users community in a language that does not correspond to
lead you to failure in terms of interactivity.
Talk tech to programmers, talk sex to teenagers and talk money to the
Jews (kidding, kidding), but you know what I mean. Don’t talk about soaps in a philosophers’
community and don’t talk child abuse in a pet lovers’ community.
Create your presence on
social media. So let’s say that you have
chosen Facebook and you create your professional Facebook page here are some
mistakes to avoid:
Do not create a profile for your business, it
is for an individual and Facebook can remove without you notice. I don’t care what you have seen other
companies doing, you need to talk directly to the Facebook support and go over
their terms and conditions carefully or they will simply delete you, your
posts, your followers, comments and friends without notice.
Do not create a discussion group, it is
reserved for persons wishing to speak on a specific topic
Link with your community
by striking up conversations with your members to show that “we listened.” The reward for your time investment is that
you will create and strengthen the link between your brand and the community.
You know your community,
what they like, their habits on the web, so stop speaking only about you and
your products. Followers will tire of
the members who only spout marketing talk, and will visit your pages less often. Instead, “get about a bit,” and post about
your part in providing news and additional information that will appeal to your
community.
Post regularly and do not
try to create a community if you do not have time to commit to it. This will generate disappointment, and your
image will lose momentum and credibility.
If there is a question on a product then answer them within 10-20
hours. If there is a problem on your
site, then explain the reasons and make a solution, or at least respond to them
and let them know when the problem will be fixed and give them some
alternatives.
