Arguably the most important component of a social media marketing strategy is to engage with your audience. In contrast to traditional “top-down” marketing techniques (such as media advertising) where customer/client feedback is limited at best, social media allows businesses to connect and communicate with followers.

This can of course be a two-edged sword at times and how you manage negative feedback may be as important in the eyes of your followers as the quality of your updates. Whether or not you delete negative feedback, respond to it, or ignore it altogether is principally a matter of your company’s policy.

See here and here for two points of view over how to deal with this common problem.

However whatever course of action you decide to take, it’s imperative to keep a conversation going with your readers. Regular, quality updates (whether direct posts on social media sites or blog posts linked to Facebook/Twitter etc) are the key to maintaining this contact. Moreover it is equally important not to overwhelm your followers with too many updates. This may have the reverse effect of putting them off to the extent of ending their subscription or ‘un-following’ you.

It is also necessary to study where your potential audience interacts. What type of social media do they prefer (if at all). Do they go for the more professional LinkedIn site? Or the more immediate Twitter? Facebook, possibly the most popular, is somewhere between the two in style. When you find out where your customers are on social media, concentrate on that medium. Remember the language and style of use can differ greatly depending on the platform you use.

If you are an existing content client of Article Writers Australia, we can help you with your social media strategy including adding posts and status updates. Contact Leonie for more information.