You can set up a Facebook or Linkedin page for free. There are no costs involved starting a Twitter account and if you want to start blogging there are free services available too (although I advise you to get a special domain with an attractive name for blogging, but that will never be more than a handful of dollars).
Therefore money can never be the reason not to start social media activities. Everybody can do it and if you start right after reading this post, you will be up and running tomorrow morning.
Dangerous
That is why the free aspect of Social Media is so dangerous. You start today and you think you are ready tomorrow. Starting is however only a very small part of your Social Media involvement. As soon as you have started, the real work begins.
You have to start publishing information and news on your Social Media channels. Don’t make a mistake. It’s not like your website where you can change something once in a while. Your Social Media channels have to be as dynamic as it can be. That means hard work, day in day out. Thinking of contents that is of interest to your customers and chasing your colleagues that promised you to deliver contents but are to busy now with other jobs.
You also have to start closely monitoring the reactions of your customers. Not once a week or once a day. You have to monitor your channels continuously. And not only monitor them. You sometimes have to get into action. Send a response or ask colleagues to repond.
Spending a few hours a month keeping your website up to a minimum standard is generally okay and will not harm your reputation. But forgetting about your Social Media channels for a few hours can have a very negative impact. Worst case scenario is that it turns against you. People can start being very negative about your company on you very own channels. And these negative reactions are there to stay. Because the last thing you should EVER do is remove reactions you don’t like.
Me too
One of my jobs for 2010 is to look whether our company is ready for joining the Social Media circus. I am somebody that likes to start immediately and then anticipate on how it develops. But with Social Media I have to be more careful. I will keep you posted on what is happening. So be sure to come back and check out my posts.
Related posts:
- What Role Should A Communications Agency Play In A Client’s Social Media?
- Do not worry about monetizing Social Media in B2B marketing
- UPS One Of The Best Examples Of B2B Social Media?
- Should We Call Social Media The Social Distribution Of (Mass) Media?
- Why Using Social Media For Marketing Is Like Riding A Bicycle
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }