It takes time, Social Media experts recommend as many as 3-4 hours per day should be spent on maintaining your Social Media pages, Do you have 3-4 hours per day to spare?
It takes technology, you will clearly need a computer to regularly update your social media portals, but you may also need things such as a camera for adding photos, or a video camera to create YouTube video and you may want to invest in mobile devices to keep in touch with your fans, followers and customers on the go.
It takes people, simply put, the larger your Social Media presence is, the more time you will need to devote to running it. Some companies such as o2 have full time staff members who simply post on their Social Media channels, respond to customers and even provide technical support. If your company creates Social Media pages such as Facebook and Twitter and your customer ‘Like’ or ‘Follow’ you, they assume that you will get back to them, and quickly. By creating these pages, you must accept that you have to meet the commitments created by Social Media. Failure to do so, may seriously affect your relationship with the customer(s).
Whatever happens online – Stays online!
It is important to make sure you carefully think through every tweet, every video and every Facebook post, as each of these creates a lasting impression of your business.
Make sure you restrict access to the admin side of your Social Media channels to ensure only trusted employees can make blog posts, leave comments and respond to customers.
Social Media is a very powerful tool, but it can affect your business for bad as well as good. Some large multi-national companies such as Honda, Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza have experienced the power of social media… and not for the good.
Social Media is not an art, it’s not a science, it is a careful blend of both and it is essential for every business, How good is your Social Media strategy?