5 Common Sense Social Practices Businesses Often Ignore
It’s never too late for a refresher (or reminder) course. Is your business doing all five things below?
1. Cross-promote your links.
No matter how many social platforms your business has, you should cross-promote them as much as possible. Your Twitter bio should include links to your Facebook and Pinterest pages. Your Facebook page should link to Pinterest and Twitter, and so on… Why? Because why not? Your likers should know where they can connect with you elsewhere. The worst that could happen is they don’t click. Otherwise, they do. New fans!
2. Socialize your website.
Post links to your social platforms right on your homepage in a highly visible spot and on every additional page. How come? Long gone are the days when your hard-to-find ‘Contact Us’ page was the only spot that made sense for these buttons. If a potential customer can’t find your social platforms in the miniscule time they’re on your site, you lose that connection.
3. Thank your fans.
When you reach a great milestone—2 million fans, 300,000, even a few hundred—show them your appreciation. Brands like Cadbury, Ferrari, Heineken, Samsung, Nautica and The Rolling Stones all thought creatively about how to thank their followers. (Read here). Why should you? Well, is your business getting talked about for doing something cool and unique? And also, we have yet to see an instance where thanking fans backfired.
4. Respond to them.
According to a recent trend report, nearly 60 percent of social media users said they expect responses from brands on comments regarding service. Not only that, but a different study showed that 65 percent of customers prefer contacting businesses via social over a phone call. And yet, 60 percent of companies don’t respond at all. What gives? Answer them! You could potentially cut down on call center costs, give your customers what they want (an answer) and perhaps make believers out of them. How frustrated are you when you can’t get a fast answer from a business you’ve dealt with?
5. Write well.
Picture this: You write a tweet with a misspelled word or bad punctuation, and it happens to be a tweet people want to RT. Before long, your poorly written 140-word representation of your brand is being flashed across screens everywhere. Why care? You’d never let a grammar mishap or typo slide by on marketing or advertising materials: how you come across on social should be handled the same way.
Got any others? Comment below!
