Get Your Social Media Efforts Back on Track

When the social media boom hit, businesses small and large flocked to the many popular networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, unsure how to navigate this new form of media, many businesses let their pages go stagnant and soon fell off their consumers’ radars.

It was easy to get caught up in the appeal of social networking. Social media includes a variety of free tools that put you in front of a large audience of users. However, many businesses didn’t consider the time and resources that would need to go into maintaining an active presence on these sites. Get your social media efforts back on track and start seeing real results by following these tips.

Make social media a priority. In today’s marketplace, social media can really set your brand apart from your competitors – if done right. If you are going to delve into this medium, you need to make social media a priority for your business. Sure, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are free, but the time an employee spends logging on to update, monitor and cull an online community costs your business money. Don’t waste employee time or company dollars on shoddy results. If it makes sense, consider hiring someone solely for the purpose of cultivating your social media presence or hire an outside resource that specializes in building online brands.

Make a plan. If you’ve chosen the DIY route, make sure you are armed with a social media plan. This will help the person who is charged with monitoring your social media sites keep these efforts on track. Depending on what type of business you operate and how you want to utilize social media to your benefit, create a daily, weekly or monthly editorial calendar. This will give you predetermined prompts for posting and help spark ideas for future discussions.

Fine-tune your message. All of your social media sites should support the same brand and message. Before you log on, fine-tune the message you want to spread to your audience. And, while you are at it, be sure you settle on a target audience that you want to reach so you aren’t throwing darts in the air.

Measure your results. Create goals and devise measurement tactics to determine if your social media efforts are working. Keep tabs on the number of “likes” you get on a weekly basis, and monitor how many conversions your website gets from social media sites. These efforts will help determine if social media is worth your time and resources.

10 Words to Drop from your Advertising Copy

Is your advertising copy plagued by toxic advertising words? Entrepreneur.com has compiled 10 commonly used words to avoid when writing advertising copy in their article “10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009.” So dig through your word bank and delete these words from your advertising lexicon.

1. Free – While consumers love free stuff (especially during down economic times) email spam filters often trash emails with the word “free” in the subject line automatically. Why waste your time developing a free promotion and creating a marketing email if it will never reach your intended audience? Instead of “free” entrepreneur.com suggests using “complimentary” or “gratis” to sneak by spam filters.

2. Guarantee – The word “guarantee” often leaves consumers skeptical of your message. Unless you have substantial proof, try a different angle with your copy.

3. Really – Among the many filler words on this list, “really” does nothing to support your message. Review your copy and take this word out in all instances.

4. Very – Yet another filler word, “very” should be left out of your copy. Be sure not to lose your audience in useless copy.

5. That – Take a look at various advertising copy from the past year and highlight each use of the word “that”. According to entrepreneur.com, you can delete 90% of “thats” appearing in your copy.

6. A Lot – Don’t shy away from using real numbers in your advertising copy. If you offer 50 types of flowers in your shop say so! “50 flower varieties” is more compelling than “a lot of flowers”.

7. Opportunity – Consumers are looking for solid results, not opportunities. Don’t leave a consumer questioning whether you will deliver on your service promises, make sure they know you will!

8. To Be – Forms of “to be” are passive. Be sure all copy is written in an active voice as it commands action.

9. Synergy – A popular buzz word of the past decade, “synergy” should be left out of all copy in 2009. (And, please, don’t go looking for a new word to replace it!)

10. Drinkability – Entreprenuer.com chose this word to illustrate the fact you shouldn’t copy your competition. (Budweiser has made this word famous, don’t think Coors is looking to capitalize on it, too!) Find your own message (your unique selling point) which will separate you from your competition.

To read Entreprenuer.com's article, “10 Advertising Words to Avoid in 2009,” check out www.entrepreneur.com/advertising/article199152.html.

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