Three social media strategies to put into practice for 2010
- Make your social media efforts more sociable
- Make room for more seniors’ participation
- Be prepared to go mobile with your social media
If you are a B2B, Twitter and Linkedin are the standard. Facebook and Twitter are great for B2C companies. If you’re photo-centric, like a magazine, Flickr has proven successful. And yes, using two different social media sites is recommended. Each has its own unique benefit that you can take advantage of. We have found that using two or more social networking sites really does compliment one another.
Let’s get the stats out of the way first. MySpace is steadily declining. Twitter and Linkedin are steadily rising, and Facebook is leading the pack.
Why is Twitter great for B2B and B2C? In short – innovations. This year Twitter had a growth of 1382% and has since created several new features including the new retweet button and the ability to create and share lists. There is also the upcoming corporate feature that allows more employees to get involved in your social media strategy by allowing multi-author tweets.
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How to keep the “social” in your social media strategy
With all the groups, lists, fan pages and other ways to filter your connections, it may seem less social lately. However, the exact opposite is true if you take the lead. If you are the one creating these niches and interacting with them as expected, you will reap the rewards.
Remember, social media strategy is based on being sociable. As our editor Amanda MacArthur says, social media “is a conversation engagement tool.” So engage in conversations and be interactive. Here are some ways to keep the conversation going and spreading:
- share your experiences
- ask what others are doing
- answer questions quickly
- create and manage a fan page
- allow positive and negative comments, be responsive
- offer a special promotion or discount (limited time offers work best)
- hold a contest
- incorporate video when possible
- create a poll, then share the results
- participate in #followfriday
- tweet about a trending topic
- share or re-tweet
- add share buttons to your website or blog
More Seniors on the Web
According to The Nielson Company, people 65 and older make up less than 10% of online users. But their numbers are on the rise, a 55% increase over the last five years with women slightly ahead of men.
“The over 65 crowd represents about 13% of the total population and with this increase in online usage, they are beginning to catch up with their offline numbers,” notes Chuck Schilling, research director, agency & media, Nielsen’s online division. “Looking at what they’re doing online, it makes sense they’re engaged in many of the same activities that dominate other age segments – e-mail, sharing photos, social networking, checking out the latest news and weather – and it’s worth noting that a good percentage of them are spending time with age-appropriate pursuits such as leisure travel, personal health care and financial concerns.”
Interestingly, this age group spends, on average, over 58 hours per month online. The biggest impact will continue to be on social media and blog sites. For example, one year ago Facebook ranked #45 as destinations by seniors but this year it’s #3.
Social Media Goes Mobile
With SmartPhones becoming more popular and new mobile apps created everyday, social media is on the move – literally. If you are like the thousands planning to purchase a phone that is internet ready, you too may find yourself checking Facebook and Twitter more often this year than last year. Your customers will too. Be there, be engaging, be fun and be accessible.
How are you using social media sites to be more social? What ways are you preparing for the increase of senior users? Do you have a mobile application yet? Share your comments below. To see how we are doing, join our Linkedin Mequoda Summit Group or follow us on Twitter @mequoda.
