The A-Z for Social Media Management

“Only the pure of heart can make good soup”

Beethoven

And the same could be said about social media! So to help you mind your Ps and Qs here are some social networking tips  from A to Z.

Is for Authenticity.   Be real!   People can see straight through the copy writing and the hype and fluff and they don’t want it!  A is also for attraction marketing.  Learn how to do this well and you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

is for Branding.  It is very important in social media to brand yourself as well as your business.    You will find that people want to connect with you and this is what makes it social 

is for Communication and Connection.  When you friend someone of follow them talk to them.  Take an interest in what they are doing and engage.  It’s is mind blowingly easy to find people in your niche so take advantage of the window of opportunity that is here now.  Good communication is key  to the success of your business.

is for driving traffic.  Instead of trying to drive traffic to your site or blog go and meet people where they are.  Don’t think in terms of creating massive big lists of  anyone who is willing to opt in,  engage with people who are truly targeted.   Your conversion rates will soar!   D is also for Diva of course!

is for Excellent Engaging.  This is absolutely key to success with social media.  Communication is not a one way road….ask questions, invite feedback, indulge in conversations, deepen communication on the phone or in person.  Go to meet ups and mash ups and have fun!

has to be for Friends, Fans and Followers.   Now if Facebook had started out as a business tool, I wonder if they would have used the term friends?   It didn’t start that way and the business networking was a side effect of socialising.  We are now thinking of people as friends instead of colleagues, contacts instead of leads.  How cool is that?

Some people might say G is for Google and the end of   Google controlling the online world of commerce and they would be right.  However I say it is about Girl Power!  Hey, we get to do what we love doing and do really well……Socialise and Multi-task!   Social media is about women getting to work from home.

is for Happy!  No one likes a miserable face, use images of yourself looking happy and be happy in your communication.  This will attract people like crazy.  H is also for happening.  Social media is now and it is happening in real time.

is for intention.  Stay focussed, be clear about what your intentions are.  I often think that the intentions that we hold behind the words that we use are what people pick up.  I know that when I get really excited about something and post about it, I get loads of great conversation.

is for Juggling.  To be successful with your social media management you need a good system and discipline.   J is also for joining up and joining in.   Social media is not for spectators.

is for Knowledge.   Know your stuff and produce great content.  Be willing to share and help others along the way.  Become an educator and you will soon be seen as a leader in your field.

is for leverage.  Learning to Leverage your time, technology and other people are invaluable skills in social media.  For instance you can use tools like Ping FM to get one post out to many platforms in an instant or you could ask key people in your industry to do some posting to their networks.  L is also for listening a crucial part of networking that is often neglected.  Lastly, L is for Links that you leave wherever you can.

is for measuring your results.  You need to work out which of your efforts work and why and equally what is not working.  This is crucial in any kind of marketing, but probably more complex with social media.  ROI is not the only way of measuring success any more, it is much more about the contacts we make, the new partnerships we form and our branding and reputation.  M is also for Marketing, Magnets and Mashable Meet Ups!   Finally, M is for Social Media Managers like us who are here to help you with your social media strategy.

is for networks.  We are living in such exciting times where it is possible to break into new networks really easily at the click of a mouse.   Networking is a key skill in business it is becoming increasingly important to have both on and offline strategies.  Look after your online networks and you never know what unexpected opportunities will present themselves from anywhere around the world.

is for optimisation.   Search engine optimisation or SEO is very important.  You could have a really great site or blog, but if it is not optimised, no one will find it.  Check the popularity of keywords with a tool like Google Adwords’ Keyword Estimator or use something like Market Samuri to hunt for them.  Make sure you have good quality content and that you use the meta tags to help the search engines rank you.  It is also really important that you have good keywords in your title so that readers know exactly what you are writing about.  Creating backlinks will also help.  O is also for organisation….you must be organised or you will lose your days!

is for Power.    If you want to know just how powerful social media can be read this:

www.jonathanmacdonald.com writes:   “Yesterday I wrote a blog post about something I had witnessed in an underground station – a guard being verbally abusive to a traveller and eventually suggesting to “sling him under a train”.

At the end of my blog post I mention I had said to the guard’s colleague that he would lose his job for that outburst. It was my opinion – that’s all.

Fast forward 24 hours and the story has run as the leader on Sky, BBC, LBC, ITN (see sample news coverage here) and on the front page of the Evening Standard. This followed thousands of Tweets and Re-Tweets (including the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, getting involved), 65,000 video views yesterday alone on YouTube and hundreds of comments on this and many other blogs. Plus, the guard has been suspended and is under investigation. ”

is for Questions.   Ask lots of them and take time to answer the ones that people ask you.   Questions are a great way of engaging with people and finding out more about them.   Even more importantly search the conversations to answer your own questions about your niche.   If you don’t ask questions, you won’t get answers.

is for reputation.   What do you find when you Google your name?   Reputation management has now become a big issue for many internet users.  You have to be careful to project yourself  in a way that reflects the image that you want to portray whilst having an open approach to sharing information about yourself.  Most people will choose to have a business account and a private account on Facebook so that they keep their private information private.

is for Social of course!  Some people forget this and use social media platforms to Spam.   S definitely does not stand for Spam!  Don’t put uninvited self serving links on people’s Facebook walls, in emails and messages or plaster your own platform with them, or send them to someone in your initial Tweet.  This is the fastest way to make yourself unpopular.    Social skills like manners and the art of good conversation go a long way in Social Media.

is for Talents.  Social media is a great way of showing off your talents.  You can use videos and photos or even podcasts.   If you do this in an entertaining or interesting way you will grow your networks very quickly.  T is for Time which needs to be managed carefully and for ongoing Training to keep up to speed with the latest Technology.  And most importantly T is for transparent, something that is crucial to building trust.

is for United.  Social media has the power to unite people from all over the world who share common interests or work in the same area.

is for Valid.  Make sure that what you are putting out there is valid.  There is so much nonsense and so many scams out there it is really important for the life of your business that what you write is truthful and representative.  V also stands for Value, add value wherever you can and people will keep visiting your profile or your website.    V is for Video too, make plenty of them to keep it interesting and  increase your search engine rankings.  Lastly V is for Voice and making sure you get your share of the Voice.

is for waiting.  Waiting to be invited to give more information, waiting to see your responses and waiting for feedback.    Writing also starts with W and this is a big part of social media.  Blog posts, articles, micro blogging, messages, emails and press releases are all very important activities.  You need to create content.

stands for X ray vision.  Never before has it been so possible to see what your competition are up to and be able to stay so informed.  You can see who they are interacting with and follow the long tail connections.

is for YouTube the biggest video site that lets people star in their own show! YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the 4 main sites for social media strategy.  Videos are excellent for search engine optimisation.  

is for Zoosk which is an online dating site.  Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans meet their partners online now?  Z is also for my lovely friend and social media expert Zahida Khan who I met on Facebook and who brightens my day with her inspirational messages and good conversation.   I have made some really lovely friends through social media and in fact Sarah, Carly and I all met this way too.   If you open your mind and your heart you will be amazed at who you meet.