10 things you must know before starting social media

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Written by John Young

Learn more about social strategy and

real-time communications at johnyoungblog.com

http://johnyoungblog.com/

10 Things You Must Know Before Starting In Social Media – John Young

www.johnyoungblog.com of 15

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Introduction

Thank you for downloading this eBook. My aim is for you to understand the basic

requirements of incorporating Social Media into your business.

If after reading this you have any questions, please ask them on any of my social

networks or via my website, johnyoungblog.com.

The strength of Social Media is through content sharing. Let your friends know you‟re

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1

“The strongest of all warriors are these two -- Time and Patience.”

-- Leo Tolstoy

ROI (Return of Investment) will not happen overnight

Investment: Noun: The action or process of investing money for profit or material result

Thought I would attack this point early on. This ebook is not about getting rich

quick or making thousands of „friends‟ overnight. There are plenty of other

ebooks making those outrageous claims. This ebook will arm you with the right

knowledge to put into perspective social media and your business.

Networking takes time. Any overnight success is usually the result of many years

of hard work. Social Media is about connecting and networking with people

through an online environment. Trust, like in any relationship, is developed over

time. There is no fast track.

The aim will be to work on developing connections with key influencers in your

industry. They will be the ones to share your message with a large audience and

help grow your network.

The return of investment from Social Media will be large, provided you

understand it will take time and effort on your behalf to grow. Some connections

will take months to develop, so be prepared, this is a long term strategy.



How can you measure ROI? This will depend on your focus. What are you trying

to achieve through Social Media: Sales? Customer loyalty? Lead generation?

Brand exposure? Newsletter signup? Enquiry phone calls?

When you have defined your target, you can build some metrics to measure,

which can include:

Facebook likes

Retweets

LinkedIn and other shares

Reblogs

Links back

Comments

Time spent on page

Average page views per visitor

Followers

@mentions

You can also go deeper and measure:

Quality of leads

Retention period

Lifetime value per lead

Length of sales cycle

Number of new customers referred by lead

There are many tools that allow you to measure these kinds of interactions,

however before you search for the tools, make a clear decision on what you

want to achieve.



2

“The single biggest problem in communication is the

illusion that it has taken place.”

-- George Bernard Shaw

This is a communication strategy, meaning you need to

communicate, i.e. be social.

Communication: Noun: The imparting or exchanging of information or news

Social Media is a communication tool, but fundamentally a social tool. That is, in

essence, what it comes down to.

Social Media has proven to be a quick response mechanism. If you only plan to

„check in‟ every now and again you will miss discussions. You need to have

monitoring in place and contribute to important discussions as they happen.

This is real-time communication, if you cannot respond in a reasonable

timeframe, your followers will lose interest. Your online community needs to see

you are available, they want to know there is no contact barrier, this means you

need to have the right processes in place to monitor and respond.

Social Media is about being public, available and communicating.



3

“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it every day,

and at last we cannot break it”

-- Horace Mann

People rarely change their habits; work on fitting into their lives.

Habit: Noun; A recurrent, often unconscious, pattern of behavior that is acquired through

frequent repetition.

We all have habits and patterns of behavior which are repeated, in some cases

daily. This means many people have little time to do things outside their comfort

zone or outside their habits.

Even websites people visit are habitual. This is a point to really stress. Don‟t

expect your content to change habits, people are too busy these days. Change

could happen, however it will be far easier to fit with their schedule and

environment.

Some people prefer to access content via Facebook, some prefer Twitter, others

will listen to podcasts and others will have their own preferences. Avoid trying to

change how they access content, work on fitting into how they prefer to

consume it.

Determine their habits through research and then provide your content in a way

that meets their pattern of behavior.



4

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can

listen twice as much as we speak.”

-- Epictetus

Listen before action.

Listen: Verb: Make an effort to hear something; be alert and ready to hear something

You could dive right in if you like, but there is etiquette on each social network.

Social Media is about customers and their need to be heard. Let them discover

who you are, but don‟t shout your message at them.

It‟s easy to go in and start talking about how good you are, but how does that

solve their problems? Listen to what they‟re saying and asking before you start

acting. Provide solutions by first understanding their problems.

Some tools to help you listen are:

socialmention.com - Real-time social media search and analysis

kurrently.com - Real-time search engine for Facebook and Twitter

google.com/alerts - Email updates of the latest relevant Google results

technorati.com - Leading blog search engine

trendrr.com - comparison graphing to show relationships and discover

trends in real time

radian6.com - complete platform to listen, measure and engage

http://www.socialmention.com/

http://www.kurrently.com/

http://www.google.com/alerts

http://technorati.com/

http://www.trendrr.com/

http://www.radian6.com/



5

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention,

sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents

the wise choice of many alternatives.”

-- William A. Foster

Quality

Quality: Noun: The standard of something as measured against other things of a similar

kind; the degree of excellence of something

Content is something there is not a lack of online, however quality content is not

as abundant. Don‟t contribute to noise, why would anybody listen? Quality is one

of the pillars of success.

People don‟t have the time to waste on poor content (remember point 3

regarding habits and busy schedules). Provide quality and people will make time

for you, provide quality and people will want more from you.

If you aren‟t confident about your writing skills, hire a copywriter, this is

definitely worth the investment. If you want your content to be shared, make

sure it is worth sharing.



6

“Part of courage is simple consistency.”

-- Peggy Noonan

Consistency

Consistency: Noun: The achievement of a level of performance that does not vary greatly

in quality over time

Again I will reference the habits of people. If you can provide consistent quality

content, you will have a better chance of fitting into the routine of your

followers.

If you‟re inconsistent, if you don‟t post often or at regular times, you‟re making it

harder to become a part of someone‟s habit, making it more difficult for you to

be seen. Once you are part of their habit, it will make it easier to connect.

It may mean a post per day or one video per week or an update at a regular

interval. Whilst you don‟t need to be a slave to social media, if you can develop

consistency, your content can become integrated into the busy schedules of your

followers. They will begin to expect content at regular intervals. Pick a timeline

you can manage and stick to it.



7

“Social Media puts the “public” into PR and the “market” into marketing.”

-- Chris Brogan

Are your customers online; is Social Media worth it?

Customer: Noun: A person or organization that buys goods or services from a store or

business

Social Media isn‟t for everyone. Surprised to hear that? Just because you can have a

Twitter account, what does that mean? What are you trying to achieve?

Is your business one that requires a social presence? This is a question you need to

really ask yourself. Social Media will make it easier for you to connect with customers,

but it will also make it easier for them to connect with you – make sure you are ready

for them.

Also make sure your target market is online. You may go to a lot of effort only to find

out they‟re not interested or involved with social channels. Just because Facebook and

Twitter have millions of users, this does not mean they will all start following you.

I‟m not saying don‟t use Social Media, because it is a valuable communication

tool. I am saying you should first understand why you are using it and second

what you should expect from your target market online.



8

“There are a lot of brilliant people in all walks of life. That doesn't make you a manager

of people. Our jobs are about managing people, crisis management on a daily basis. If

you don't have people skills or the experience, things can snowball.”

-- Brian Sabean

Do you have the right team to manage the social strategy?

Manage: Verb: Be in charge of (a company, establishment, or undertaking); administer;

run

You are busy, that is a fact of life, we all have „things‟ to do. Do you have the right staff

or even enough staff to manage your social strategy?

Social media requires monitoring, engagement and communication. There are

tools which can assist, but the information still needs to be digested, monitored

and replied to. Tools will bring you information, it‟s the people that sort through

it.

Allow at least one hour of your time per day, if not more. Now, that hour could

be broken up over the day, eg 10 min blocks, depending on what you are trying

to achieve. The key is to have the right team in place to ensure it works well,

which comes down to strategy.



9

“We don't think that any one hardware platform can meet everybody's

needs and we provide multiple platforms for that reason.”

-- John Patrick

It’s not all about the platforms

Platform: Noun: An opportunity to voice one's views or initiate action

I hear many people say they need to setup a Twitter account for their business. Why?

What makes Twitter so good? Look at Facebook, it‟s huge, but does that mean you must

have a Facebook profile or Fan Page?

Look past the platforms and consider the message and what that means for your

customers. Any platform is just another way to facilitate communication and

engagement.

It comes down to understanding

What you communicate

Who you engage with

Consumer preference for content format

When you know these things you can choose the right platform/s to use.

Look for the platform which will have the best outcome for you and focus on that.

Choosing the right platform will be a result of your listening research, look for activity

and engagement. Become a master of a single platform, then branch out from there.



10

“Leaders establish the vision for the future and set

the strategy for getting there.”

-- John P. Kotter

Strategy

Strategy: Noun: A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim

I‟ve been alluding to this in most of the previous points.

Strategy is the key to your success, if you walk in blind, you won‟t know where

to go. Spend time listening, when we listen, we learn more about our customers

and we know the preferred platform for communication.

Remember to listen and have the tools in place to enable ongoing monitoring.

Return of investment won‟t happen overnight and without a strategy, it may not

even happen. Ensure you communicate with your audience, this is the

foundation of social media.

When you consider the tips within this guide in great detail, you are on your way

to developing the strategy for success. Not all strategies are created equal, what

works for one person will not necessarily work for another.



If you need ideas or advice on what to do next, I encourage you to join the

conversation at my website, johnyoungblog.com, at my Facebook page, or via

Twitter.

If you found this guide useful please share on Twitter or Facebook.

Thank you for your time.

John Young

@johnfrankiej

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