RTS Southern's Social Media Talk - Summary

Last night I went along to a talk about social media and itsinfluence on TV and news broadcasts. Not really knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised by a well organised discussion by some interesting speakers.

I particularly enjoyed the participation with the audience and I got some great answers to my questions about how to convert social media sceptics. So I just thought I would do a quick summary post on what I learnt.

Social media is well social, and it is difficult to get technophobes and sceptics to listen to the advantages of this fast moving and valuable tool to businesses. Here are some of the best tips I was given and how they can help individuals and businesses get the most out of social media:

1.   Know what is in it for youMake sure you understand what you niche is and research them online. Twitter has some great advanced search techniques, as well as Google so make use of them to really understand who your target market is, where they are talking and how to engage them. You don’t need to replace traditional marketing techniques, but simply enhance them. Followers on Twitter, likes on Facebook and views on YouTube all mean more traffic to the your website.
   
   
2. Set out your objectives
   Setting up a twitter account is easy, but knowing why you are doing it and who you are going to target is more difficult. Do you want to sell more products? Do you want to build brand awareness? Or just see what other people are saying about your brand? Make sure you know what you are saying, in what tone and to who before you jump in and start randomly posting.
   
   
3. Know your stuff
   Almost anyone can set up and account on these sites, but running them can sometimes be a little more complex. What might work best for Facebook, might not work on Twitter so make sure you are educated on how to make the most out of these sites. If you’re not sure, don’t post. There are a lot of people that are professionals so turn to them for help.
   
   
4.  Don’t be anonymousHaving a good profile on all social networking sites is important. A good profile picture is essential so people can recognise you / your brand easily. A short and snappy bio is also vital to let followers and friends know who you are and what you are about quickly. It will help build your followers and make sure potential followers can find you easily online.
   
   
5.  Be authentic, be the expert, be funnyIts okay getting the followers but keeping them is another matter. It only takes seconds to unlike something on Facebook, or unfollow on Twitter so make sure every message counts. Be true to yourself, personal accounts always get more followers than business style pages. Be the expert in your field, if you cannot write original content RT or post other peoples – just make sure you give the credit where it is due. Most importantly keep the tone light! No one wants serious tweets all the time, so if you find something funny or cute share it!

Want to know more?:

Sue Llewellyn - Social media trainer and Twitter wizz!
RTS Southern - Good Facebook page, better website.
Me - Follower my Twitter to get more related stories by me and other people.

Thanks for reading,

Rie Reviews