So maybe it’s just me, but it seems like every time I read an article social media it severely lacks substance. I beg you fellow article writers out there, the next time you go to write an article on social media, just read it over when you’re done.

If your main points boil down to:
“social media is for interacting with your customers”,
“use Facebook and Twitter”
and “promote it across your marketing mix” then please … hit the delete button, WE KNOW! 

 Personally I don’t like to waste people’s time so I am going to try and give you real solid tips and examples on how you can knock your social media marketing out of the park.

Social Media Primer: Giving your company a soul
 I don’t think enough companies take the time to really think about this part. The cool thing about social media is it gives your company a personality and a soul. Instead of letting the company just take on the characteristics of the person in charge of managing it, take a minuet to really think about it. If your business was a person, what type of person would it be?  Most likely your company’s personality will be equivalent to your target market. So for example if you’re a bar then most likely your company’s social soul would be an average Joe male, working man who is a sports nut. If you’re a Lamborghini dealership then maybe you’re a well educated workaholic who is an adrenalin junkie.  Another possible approach could be selecting an opposing personality for sex appeal, like a young attractive female personality when you have a male dominate target audience. You can also go the “character” route and make the personality traits over the top, like using “credit man” for a sub-prime car lot.

Draw up your character bio
 Once you have your social spokesperson picked out, draw up a character bio. Think about that person’s likes and dislikes, hobbies, political alignment, even find some pictures for a visual representation. If you don’t already have someone managing your social media department, hire someone that naturally fits that bio. If you do already have someone in that department then congratulate them on getting their first acting gig!

Give them a reason to follow you
 Now that you have your virtual spokesperson all worked out, its time to build your following. I’m not going to restate the obvious here, yes put the Facebook icon on ALL your other advertising.  The main key point here is to give them a reason to follow you, your tagline should read:

Follow us on Facebook for….. exclusive offers ….. Great tips on something ……to enter a contest ….etc.

 You might even want to put your spokespersons picture next to the link to give it a more personal feel.

Now that you have your social media basics, its time to move on to:

Ten Tantalizing Tweets that will turn on your twits (part 2)
Must have tools of the social media trade (part 3)