How successful as a business are you on social media? 

The answer to that question will of course depend on the goals of your business, how you measure against those goals and how good those measurements are looking for you.

Ultimately the question is what are you looking to gain and are you gaining it?

Here are five quick things that will help guide you to successful social media activity:

1. Don’t lose sight or focus of what it is you’re doing it for

A common perception of plenty of business, no matter what their size, is that they need to be on social media but they are not quite sure why!

Social media can be used for many different business reasons; to reach people that you otherwise wouldn’t have reached through other marketing channels, to provide customer service, to build year round relationships where purchases are made seasonally (think of tourism) or to give your business a personal voice.

That’s just a few examples but what you should always have is an understanding of what it is your business is looking to gain from the time you spend on social media.

In no other area of business would it be acceptable to spend loads of time without any real understanding of why it is you are doing it; social media is no exception.

Make sure you know the why!

2. Keep a close eye on what you are achieving

Now you know why you are doing it, are you achieving it?

Set ways of measuring whether or not you are delivering what you want to.  For example, if you are looking to increase reach, how many new followers have you gained in the past month?  Examine whether those followers are of value, for example if you want to gain brand exposure in Devon and Cornwall, ten new followers in New York and Miami are going to have less value than five new followers in Devon.

3. Consistently take a look at your goals and objectives – are they being met?

Don’t let things idle along.  Make sure you have a regular timing for your reporting that fits your needs.  Once you have that in place, stick to it.  It can sometimes be tempting to delay if you’ve not been doing so well – avoid that temptation!

4. Don’t separate your online ‘life’ from your offline ‘life’!

Your social media life should compliment what you are doing offline.  Use social media to get yourself meetings, to speak to people on the telephone and to gain new leads.  Make sure it isn’t in isolation from behind the sofa, because nothing good ever came from behind the sofa!

5. Don’t let it become a time drain – allocate your time and keep to it!

Don’t let social media drain your time.  Everybody works differently with how they allocate their time during the day but if you need to, make sure you have time allocated to your social media activity.  Find what works for you, when it’s best to update Facebook or Twitter and once you know what works, stick with it.

Make sure one hour doesn’t blur into two hours and thirty minutes doesn’t blur in to no minutes!

For more information about how we can help you focus your social media activity please give us a call on 01566 784860 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk