“Everyone’s doing Social”

When was the last time you heard someone say that? Many brands now participate in social media activity in some shape or form. Whether you run a corporate blog, Twitter account or Facebook profile, we’re all taking steps to improve customer relations, brand visibility and profitability. However, before diving-in arms wide open, you need to assess the relevancy and potential impact on your business.

Creating a Facebook page or Twitter account simply to be seen isn’t enough. To truly leverage a greater response from the social web, individuals and brands need to engage in conversation, share knowledge, resources and insight. This will go a long way in helping to show your audience the value you bring to the community. Slowly but surely a following will gather around your content as more recipients begin to sit-up and take note of what you or your brand have to say.

Another key point to take onboard is the tone of voice, or channel in which you chose to approach your customers. Remember that individuals are more likely to respond to a real person than a brand. A good example of this is IBM’s social strategy, whereby instead of operating a corporate presence, they actively encourage their employees to blog, tweet and post relevant content from the company.