Social Media: Who, What, When

By this point, most people are aware that social media can play an incredible role in influence and interaction for an organization, but many of us don’t quite know how to make it work the right way.  The wonderful world of social media can be a tricky environment to get acquainted with, but the potential is worth the time and effort.

Many companies struggle to understand and apply a few simple principals on how to successfully implement social media to increase customer interaction and reach.  Here a few simple strategies to keep in mind that will help you leverage your social media in the best way possible.  There are three easy concepts to remember when utilizing any kind of social media: Who, What, and When.  As you might  guess, each three of these are interdependent on one another.

Who

Social media is just that. Social. Remember you’re talking to a group of individual customers, not a mob of people.  It’s definitely a two-way street where you want to be heard and so do your customers.  Take what time you can to interact with your followers and fans.  In doing so, you’ll foster trust and a greater sense of community among your customers.  Make it personal and be real.  Your Facebook page and Twitter account shouldn’t sound like a robot.

What

The story that you have to tell as a company is one of the best things you can offer to your customers.  It not only gives legitimacy to your business but also keeps your followers and fans interested in what you are doing.  Be sure that what you have to say is important to your people.  Keep it relevant and to the point.

When

Ok, so when should really be how often.  While it’s important to be consistent with updating your Facebook and Twitter content, your customers don’t want to feel like they’re being spammed constantly.  Depending on the nature of your business, you should try to adjust the timing and frequency your tweets and updates according to your audience.  This goes back to the what; be sure it’s relevant.  Keeping your message focused will help your followers and fans better appreciate what you have to say.

Keep your audience in mind, keep your message relevant, and try not to over do it.

Hope these tips help you make the most out of your social media campaign.

Facebook + Instagram

First off, yes this is my first post in over a year.  But I’m back.  I’ll try to keep these posts more relevant than my Tumblr feed.  Ok, let’s get down to it.

With Facebook’s recent acquisition of the social photo platform Instagram for $1 billion, we’re all left wondering what might change and particularly, how Facebook might ruin what is now a 5-star mobile app.  I mean who would blame us; just take a look at Facebook’s own mobile app and you can see why we’re all a little worried.  Poor performance, slow loading, and buggy.  Then there’s the security and privacy concerns that have haunted Facebook users.  On the other hand, Instagram is clean, easy to use, and LOOKS great.  Based on solely user interface, Instagram outperforms Facebook every time.  It’s just a better app.  Can’t argue that.  But what Facebook does have is users.  Lots of active users.  Huge opportunity here for Facebook to do something right.

Back to Instagram.  Instagram’s journey from a zero profit mobile app to becoming a $1 billion dollar company has been quite an accelerated story.  Instagram released its first app back in October 2010.  In less than two years it has become worth $1 BILLION.  That’s amazing.  For more info on that, check out Mashable’s visual timeline of Instagram’s success story.

Who knows, it could be a great move by both parties.  Personally, I’m not getting my hopes up though.