If you have a LinkedIn company profile, Facebook company page or Twitter account, presumably you do so in the belief that they generate more customers and business for you.  If you don’t have them then you could be missing out on a potential target market and cost-effective way of increasing your prospects.  However, it’s just as likely that you have accounts and are not very active in making use of them.

There Are No Shortcuts

That’s the trouble really – if you are going to be involved in it, it makes sense to use them well and there are no shortcuts – it takes time and effort over a sustained period of time.  It is interesting that many clients or prospective clients I meet have the impression that social media is free and therefore it is attractive to them.  Sure the accounts may be free but in reality, integrating and really using them to any effect takes time – and time is money, whether you are paying someone directly to manage your marketing communications, or doing it yourself. Think of it this way – if you are spending time on LinkedIn, Facebook or tweeting, there is something else you aren’t doing. That’s what the economists call an “opportunity cost”.

It’s A Question of Commitment

A lot of advice is around about how to use these channels and indeed LinkedIn have produced some best practice tips that you can check out here. However, the main tip is that you have to be active on a regular basis, to benefit. Since the busiest times for LinkedIn are mornings and around noon, Monday to Friday, if you want to catch attention this means potentially planning to be active everyday of the working week. Are you able to commit to that?

In a sense it’s a case of damned if you don’t and if you do but not properly! By having accounts and not making regular use of them, you are potentially putting people off your business.  What does it say about you to have a Twitter account with 4 tweets and 2 followers?  Either you are very new in the game – but people can see how long your account has been active; or you don’t have much to say.  What is the story you are telling?  Some recent research provides interesting findings. For example, when asked:
“What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook or Twitter?” respondents said :
“It’s EXPECTED that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.” Female 50-54
“Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method.” Male 35-39
“It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers.” Female 18-24.
“If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the “electronic” people.” Female 55-59

Of course you may tell yourself that those demographics are not your target market (at least not now?) but you know that’s just an excuse not to do anything.  In my experience, it is better to work one channel well than several badly.  It is however even better if you can integrate them all within your marketing system so that they create a virtuous circle of recruiting followers, spreading information, sharing, collecting insight and data and a basis for recommendation and referrals.  So how do we do that?

Leading To Action

Models of marketing communications theory describe a process of leading prospective customers through the buying process by focusing on content and communication that moves them from a state of “unawareness” through to “action”.

• “Unaware”  they don’t know you or your products

• “Aware”  they know who you are, have heard of you

• “Interest” you are on their radar and there is an increased commitment to hearing from you

• “Desire” you are tapping into the right messages and their motivation to buy

• and finally “Action” at which point, they are ready to buy from you.

It’s actually a question of engagement. How do you boost engagement with your followers?
The answer is not rocket science but is a matter of making each marketing channel work for you. Ensuring that you promote your LinkedIn page on your website, through your Twitter account and Facebook page, directing and pointing readers to each of these helps increase traffic and so awareness and followers.

Customer comments and reviews you receive and put on your website, can be linked to from Facebook, directing people to the landing page and vice versa directing people from your LinkedIn page to your website.  Potential customers these days are far more persuaded by what real customers say and think of you than they are by your marketing spiel. And it goes without saying that you need to have a prominently displayed button to enable people to sign up to each of your channels, on your website and your social media pages, making it as easy as possible.

It’s Really Just Good Marketing

Most of what follows relates to specific facilities on LinkedIn but much of it can also be applied to Facebook or Twitter and it really is just a good scientific approach to marketing.  As part of your normal scanning of competitors ( you do that right?), LinkedIn can be very useful and convenient to see not only what competitor companies are doing but also their (and potentially your) customers. Who is active in their company?  What is their background and what groups are they in, what discussions are they participating in?  Of course if you can link in to them then do but developing a relationship with them then depends on you hitting the right buttons and appealing to their interests.
So what are your customers or those with a similar company or role profile spending time talking about?  What are the topics and discussions that they are engaged in?  For example, LinkedIn groups have managers, and manager’s choices to show topics that are getting the most attention. Apart from participating in the discussion yourself to raise your profile, you can tell a lot about the ideas and subject matter to include in your own stream. Using the search facility helps you to search by topic to see what’s going on and you can see what level of response you get from people to your comment and use this as an indication of interest to what you might add to your own company stream.
The group profiles are rich in information about demographics, job titles, geographical location and so on. This profile of your potential target market can be used to refine your messages, channels and campaign targeting.  Examining the trends (via Activity and the archive links on LinkedIn) you may see patterns in the topics and level of interest that suggest seasonality, which can help you to time your campaigns and plan your messages.

Timing Is Everything

As was said above, the peak times for LinkedIn are in the morning and at mid-day but that doesn’t mean to say that these are the only times that you should plan to post.  Of course other people will be checking in at other times, and even in other time zones, so it is worth tracking what works and when your target audience is active.  And of course there are tools that can be helpful in scheduling your posts for you – so you can write and then schedule to post them later. This helps you to maintain your presence without making you a slave to the process. Or in “always on” mode.

Be A Stand Out

The name of the game is creating interaction and as part of that you need to deploy tactics that help you to stand out from the crowd.  Using images, generating responses through competitions and polls and questions can help.
When you read or write something interesting, make sure you share it through links or updates that you specifically target towards groups or categories of followers.  If you have posted something on your own blog, you can get a lot of feedback from seeing who clicks through to read it, what else they look at on your site, and ideally any comments they leave.  The more targeted you are, the more likely you are to create followers who are of the right quality.  Better to have fewer good leads than many inactive, disinterested ones.
Of course there are many more paid for features that you can utilise once you are in the swing of it. There are no shortcuts – it takes time, effort a mix of the art and science of marketing. However if you persist and follow these principles for long enough, the stats suggest that you will be successful.  And if you don’t personally have the time to do it yourself, why not talk to us at Neontics?  We’d be happy to help you out.