We’re often asked, as an Internet marketing company, how a company should get started in social media. We typically recommend starting off with researching your competitors on each social network before developing your strategy. You really want to get a lay of the land.
Get started by reviewing your competitors in the top five social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and LinkedIn. To kick-start things, establish a list of your competitors, your key personnels names, and the keywords that you would like to rank well for in search engines such as YouTube and LinkedIn.
Take a look around in each social network to determine who’s competing for different keyword phrases, how they are positioning themselves, and what their offers are. Read the conversations that are taking place to uncover value creation opportunities.
A great example of this is LinkedIn. Visit LinkedIn and perform a keyword search for the keywords that you would like to rank well for under “Groups” and see which competitors and complementary groups come up. Then, review the discussions. This research will provide some great information on both your competition and customer needs. The Questions and Answers section within LinkedIn is another great tool to use for additional research.
You also want to evaluate each social network in supporting your goals as each social network has its strength. If you are just starting out, you may want to get started with two or three social networks that align well to what you would like to achieve. For example, if you provide presentation training, YouTube would be a great fit.
It’s then a matter of developing a strong social media plan and metrics to track results. For more information on social media, download our free social media eBook or comment if you have any questions.