Are you part of the conversation?
Social media can be brilliant for business. It can drive more people to visit your website, it can help you to find others to collaborate with and it can help you sell more products.

With their seemingly unstoppable growth, Facebook and Twitter pages are becoming a must-have for every business. Buyers often share advice on purchasing decisions and consider word-of-mouth to be amongst the most trustable. Increased use of social networking sites has helped to amplify consumer conversations, making them a big part of the world wide web.

Make sure you’re part of the conversation about your business. Once you’re on Facebook, you’ll want to attract fans. On Twitter, you’re looking for followers. Social media is not about broadcasting. It’s more about listening, adding value and engaging with those that you are following, and people that are following you. Ask questions and deliver answers in your area of expertise.

Be part of the conversation – that means every time someone comments on your new status, a photo, a video, a discussion thread, or anything else, you need to comment back. Gone are the days of a one-way ‘communication’ where businesses simply broadcast to their customers. A conversational revolution is happening and you need to be part of it.

Social media takes commitment. Doing a little bit, often, is a better way of getting results rather than showing up on an intermittent basis. If you only show up some of the time, what does that say to your followers? It takes time, consistency and commitment to generate results.

Avoid boring updates about what you had for dinner. Try to find a good balance between promoting offers/products and relevant information that your followers will genuinely find useful. Think about the mini-news stories that probably happen every day in your business and post them up. Check in with your fans and followers by asking for feedback.

Getting Started with Facebook.
You may already have a personal profile but to create the right image for your business you need a separate Fan Page. These allow organisations and businesses to post information in an official, public manner to people who choose to connect with them. A fan page enables you to send updates to all of your fans at once. You can also view data on the number of fans, visitors and comments for your page.

Go www.facebook.com and click on Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business. Then follow the steps to get set up. Oh, and here are some tips:

1. Choose a name for your page that customers can identify with. Use the name of your business, and if necessary, the location too. Get a vanity URL which makes it easy for you to give out the address of your fan page and for your fans to find you, like
www.facebook.com/freshdeli

2. Give your followers information about you. Fill out as much information as you can in the ‘About’ box under your profile and on the tab. This stuff is gold for search engines too.

3. Personalise your page. One of the best ways to do so is to create a Facebook page with FBML, the Facebook Markup Language (follow the tutorial on http://on.mash.to/aexv6D for tips). This enables you to add custom tabs. Create tabs to let people find your store locations, promote services and products or offer exclusive deals to your fans.

4. Add photos and update content regularly. Give your customers a reason to come back to your page.

Getting started with Twitter.
Go to www.twitter.com and follow the online instructions. Joining Twitter is free, quick and simple, though you may want to spend a little extra time personalising your page.

1. Unless you’re a particularly big brand, you should use your personal name, rather than the company name. People like to know who they’re talking to.

2. Add a good photo. If you’ve chosen to use your personal name then this should be a photo of you, not your logo.

3. Include a short bio. This will include what you do and how you can help others. Perhaps add some hobbies or fun things that you’d like to share.

4. Change the background of your profile. Include your URL and phone number so that people can contact you easily. Add your logo somewhere on the background to create strong branding.

Promote your Facebook & Twitter pages
No-one is going to follow you if they don’t know you’re there so add links to your Facebook and Twitter pages…

  • In your email signature
  • On your website
  • On your eshots
  • On your business card
  • On your leaflets and flyers

‘Like’ our printing.com page. Go to www.facebook.com/printingdotcom

Follow us on twitter. Go to www.twitter.com/printingdotcom