Previously, we discussed what it means to interact with prospects in a more sociable way within the social media environment. We also mentioned the need to engage with customers and keep the social media conversation going in order to truly be successful. Here are some additional tactics and tools that can be applied in order to lead a successful social media campaign for your business.

When Passing the Ball Aim for Targeted Players

When attempting social media marketing, many companies have an affinity to fall short of the honed skill of sociable posting and capriciously post irrelevant content without engaging their audience. This can be likened to a player who passes an unrecognizable ball on a field while aiming for everyone. You might say that’s ridiculous, yet this is what we frequently see with social media posting. The outcome is just not effective because of the lack of an individualized relational content posting strategy.

Here are some specific examples of how you can effectively focus on engaging your audience with relevant content through Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook: Creating a Custom Interactive Page Environment

► You can keep the social media conversation going by tagging other users and pages. In the manage permissions portion of your account check the box “Users can write or post content on the wall”. This allows visitors to post content on your wall, and whoever tags your page in their posts will appear on your wall as well.

► Create custom page tabs that are relevant to your visitor interaction. These are basically landing pages on your Facebook page that will generate interest and allow you to present a customized page that is engaging. Here’s a helpful video “How to create Facebook page custom tabs“.

► It is important to gather registrations from your Facebook page. Creating “Like” offers or “Deals” on Facebook is a great way to build fans and capture information. Here’s a short “How to create a Facebook deal” video that describes the process.

► Create a welcome page that allows and encourages users to “Like” your page. You can do this by creating a page tab and making it the default landing tab. Here’s “How to create a Facebook welcome page“.

► As mentioned earlier in “Engaging Prospects and Keeping the Social Media “Conversation” Going: Part 1” regarding LinkedIn pages, claim your vanity URL for Facebook. You should do this to avoid a busy and random addresses. This will further customize your Facebook page and make it easier for users to find you.

Twitter: Engaging and Expanding Your Boundaries

► You can utilize Twitter to let your followers know of the latest relevant news or new documents you’ve recently published such as white papers, blogs, and webinar events to drive them back to your website to download these items or sign up. When you do this you open up an opportunity to have visitors share their contact information which is essential to gather.

► Optimizing your tweets with keywords is an effective practice. Sine tweets are public you can leverage keywords which are relevant to you business to make it easier for you page to be found.

► Follow others who are industry related to expand your boundaries. When they begin to notice the value of your tweets they will be motivated to follow you. TweetDeck is a helpful tool for you as well to increase followers. Here’s a helpful video that highlights some great tactics to expand your followers “How to Get Twitter Followers to Follow Back Fast“.

► Engage your followers that have already committed to you. Focusing on communicating through direct messages as well as re-tweeting other’s tweets is a helpful way to build up those around you to respond in a reciprocal fashion.

► Get involved in Twitter chats concerning business related topics of interest. Building these relationships is essential when seeking to engage your audience. If you’re unfamiliar with Twitter chats here’s a vimeo video that describes how to have “A successful twitter chat in 5 easy steps“.