This week, we’ve attended some webinars and participated in several chats about social media.
Trust us when we say that not only is social media not going anywhere, it’s just getting started.

Here are some of the best tips we gathered from our social media butterflying:

Today, social networking is more than just sharing photos of the family dog.

1.    Do everything a little more frequently.

This means blogging, email campaigns, Facebook posts, and Tweets. This kind of visibility is important in marketing efforts, and it’s basically free. The only investment is a little bit of time.

However (and this is a pretty big HOWEVER), you don’t want to overload your audience with content if it’s not valuable to them.

Creating Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube accounts is a great start, for sure. But these networks are useless without the blocking and tackling of content marketing. Creating your own content not only adds value to your customers’ experience with your company, but it also increases your SEO ratings and the chance for your business to appear higher in Google searches and rankings.

You also don’t want to use your multi-channel marketing solely as a form of self promotion. “Peppering” is a good idea. By providing interesting, valuable content without constantly saying “What’s in it for us?” the customer regards your business as a thought leader. And there’s one goal reached – a relationship based on trust.

2.    Timing is everything, even in posting.

Statistically, Mondays and Thursdays in the early morning (between 6-8 am) is the best time to post new blog content. The “Linkerati,” or professional bloggers, do much of their catching up, planning ahead, and searching for new content and ideas on Mondays and Thursdays. In terms of link building and search engine optimization, this is one of those super-important bits of Best Practice information to keep in mind.
3.    Don’t be afraid of posting on the weekends.

Or during times that you wouldn’t ordinarily think to post. Basically, talk while the others are silent. If you’ve noticed that a lot of posts on your News Feed come up right around 5 pm, move your posts to a different time. Utilize contra-competitive timing and make it work for you.

Work smarter. There are tons of nifty little tips, tricks and tools out there for making social media manageable, effective, and efficient.  Decide if you want an automated message to be generated when someone new follows your business on Twitter, or if you’d prefer to handle your @messages with a more personal touch. Scheduling posts ahead of time can make life a whole lot easier, and strategically, it’s a good idea to have your ideas planned out so there is consistency within your content.

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