Twitter and Facebook are smart Social Media tools to help businesses and brands market themselves.  But like any other marketing tool if they are not used correctly they can hinder rather than help get the message across to millions of potential customers and brand consumers…

When partnering with our clients to determine Social Media outreach one of the first areas we monitor is the competition and social media has lots of easy ways to do this.  Using sites like TweetBeep ( tweetbeep.com) and Goggle Alerts (google.com./alerts) are effective and effortless ways to see what others are doing.  These sites allow you to receive auto alerts (you set the parameters of how often) each time your competition is mentioned online (I put quotations around key words in my searches to weed out the irrelevant posts).   Knowing how your competition is interacting with “fans” and “friends” and tracking their activities provides an insight to how you want to create your own Company’s online buzz.

It always a surprise to me when I am researching a company or brand and I see “customers” (fans/friends), leave comments that go unnoticed or unanswered by the Company.   Ignoring what your customers have to say about you is a big mistake.  Just as the old and true adage “The customer is always right goes” this has no better application than when communicating online.  Caring about what people are saying about your brand, fixing a problem and opening up a dialogue all showcase your business in a positive light.

It is important to remember when communicating that arguing is a losing battle anywhere but nowhere more so than on social media pages.  It is important to train your administrator to remain professional and unemotional at all times – and when a mistake has indeed been made – own up to it and indicate that you want to make it right!

When you make a promise and commitment to someone on your social media links make sure that you handle the problem and/or provide the information requested.  Dropping the ball, especially in such a public venue can only exacerbate negative consequences.  Social media sites allow us to monitor more closely how customers interact with each other and discus our companies and brands – so you want to ensure that what they are airing is indeed a positive review or comment about you…

Its best to monitor all the different avenues of Social Media before jumping in and interacting to determine how the tools will benefit you.  I often ask clients to first sign up as consumers themselves, play around and get to know the vehicle we are adding to their marketing mix – and provide feedback of their experiences to not only the discussion but in determining the tone and voice of their Social Media communication.   A golden rule – don’t just tweet for Twitter’s sake.  Make focused, informative tweets on items and links that matter to you and your business…

A company’s Facebook and Twitter pages must be a reflection of the same brand identity you are using to build your brand or Company.  They work as part of a total imaging package that continue to build an interesting and consistent brand image.  More bright ideas for sharpening those Social skills…