Koen Paquay, marketing weblog

So many people are talking about using Social Media as an instrument for generatiing more Sales, but there are only a few companies that REALLY use social media as it should be used. In this article I´ll show what companies should do to create a REAL presence.

Create a Presence

Everyone is hearing and seeing what´s happening on the online Social networks and because of that companies see potential and smell money. Except companies think it´s enough to be present to generate more sales, but nothing is further from the truth.

To really create a presence you need to engage with your target audience, but to do that you first need to really know which group of people your target group is. My advice would be to first find your perfect client. As soon as you know who your perfect client is start looking for them online and find out where they hang out, because once you´ve done that you can start engaging.

To start engaging you need to create a usefull strategy to reach your predetermined goal. Don´t start by selling them stuff, but communicate (without selling) on a person to person level. Everyone hates sales people that stop you while shopping, well don´t become one. So create a REAL relationship. It´s so easy to get connected,  but hard to stay connected and it takes alot of your time (approx 32 hours a month). When you´ve create a relationship with your perfect client you really need to maintain this relationship.

BEWARE: when starting on your Social Media travels, you need to determine your strategy and formulate a guideline that cleary states the do´s and dont´s, when considering others to help you create a brand/product presence.

Your Social Media checklist

1. Start with the end in mind
2. Maximize Inbound opportunities
3. Work at building partnerships
4. Set up your profiles to be found
5. Get People talking about you
6. Leverage Strenghts of each platform
7. Cross-connect within platforms
8. Leverage content
9. Get help with consistency
10. BE REAL!

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If this article helped you in any way or has given you insights into reaching your goals by using Social Media, please Retweet or share it within your Social network.

With great thanks to Social Media Magic University, where I´ve been learning everything there is to know about creating Social Media presence.

Here´s also a great WhitePaper about Social Media which explains the way you should engage your audience. With thanks to: ebooks.storyworldwide.com

Tags: community, SocialMedia, WEB 3.0