There are a myriad of social media tools and services available on the web right now.
It can be tricky finding out which ones you should be paying attention to and, more importantly, how you can use them to generate measurable improvement in your bottom line.
There’s good news and there’s bad news when it comes to business in social media.
The bad news is that creating and maintaining customer relationships effectively takes time and effort, there is no magic formula that takes all the work out of it.
The good news is that it’s not rocket science. In fact, it’s a straightforward process that practically anyone can manage.
Being a good neighbor
Developing customer relationships in social media is actually about developing friendships, not about looking for the next fix.
One of the chief advantages offered by services like Facebook, MySpace, and Ning is the ability to stay in touch with a ridiculously large number of people.
In the physical world, it can be difficult even to stay connected with the five or ten households on your block. Coordinating schedules is difficult, and it seems like people run into each other at the grocery store less and less frequently.
The internet is different. FriendFeed, Twitter, and Facebook’s NewsFeed provide constant updates on the lives of your digital neighbors.
The trick to finding new clients or customers is to make those connections now and develop passing friendships with people on these social networks. When they eventually do need your services or your product, you’ll be the first one on their list.
Three easy keep-in-touch strategies
OK, so being a good neighbor is all well and good, but everyone still has to battle time-management.
Being in the right place at the right time involves more than just luck—here are three time-effective things you can do to stay visible to your friends and potential clients.
- Use a Twitter desktop client - desktop clients like Twhirl (for all platforms) and my personal favorite Twitterific (Mac only) allow you to stay plugged in to the stream of innocent or irrelevant looking consciousness that flows from your digital contacts. Messaging a few people a few times a day, even about things that don’t really matter (like a restaurant recommendation), keeps you in their minds and on their radar.
- Share links in Facebook - one of the most durable functions of Facebook is the shared items application, which is part of the core facebook feature set that all users have by default. People love to find cool things online, and if you consistently recommend good content, people will pay attention to what comes through their feed with your name on it.
- Leave comments - leaving comments is one of the oldest plays in the book. It’s been true of blogging since blogs were invented and it’s still true in all its forms today. Facebook allows commenting on newsfeed items and FriendFeed allows you to “like” items or comment there. Do this three to five times per day, and people will get used to seeing you as part of the conversation.
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