Want to be more social?

More and more people are using online communication for business networking. Whether communicating through a blog, Facebook page, twitter account, LinkedIn page, Flicker photos, Pinterest, YouTube or the like, social media is key to providing information, education and responding to your viewers, connections, followers, friends or audience.

Posting comments, creating polls, answering questions and writing a blog is fairly easy, but just doing it doesn’t mean what you do will ignite the Internet, be viewed by anyone, much less, passed on and become the next viral sensation.

Engaging readers may seem overwhelming, but it’s easier than you think. Here are a few tips:

·  Ask your friends or family to spark a conversation on your post. In the beginning of building a presence, getting your friends, family and employees involved is a tactic many people use but don’t often talk about. We seek out social networks to communicate, and a user will more typically follow links and posts if they see a number of interesting comments or people they know are following a page or person.

·  Write the headline or link with a catchy phrase or brief description. Attention grabbing headlines and photos draw the reader or viewer in. Most people are drawn in by the headline, photo or lead sentence. People never click on boring blank links. And be sure your links are actually linked to the right content or page! I can’t tell you how often I click on something lately and it goes nowhere.

·  Provide interesting, intriguing and up-to-date content. Just like traditional communications planning, social media should also include some level of planning. If you have a business or marketing plan, the content can often be bits, parts and pieces of what you are doing in traditional media.

·  Target your audience. Ask yourself who will be reading or viewing each social media site. Generally no more than 20% of all readers will click on a link and only 5% will read a full article. These numbers increase only if the “friends” or “followers” are tuned in and interested in your subject matter such as wedding and event photos, DIY videos, self help advice, travel tips and business articles.

·  Expand your reach. On a site such as LinkedIn, expand your networking by participating in the discussions in groups. Join groups that might include your target audience or people with similar interests. Get involved by responding to posts as well as responding to posts and polls, providing expert advice, business leads or helpful tips. Then as you build a presence, you can post your own expert articles with a link to your blog or website for more information.

·  Keep in touch. On a regular basis, add and invite friends and followers to your social media sites. Check your sites on a regular basis and allow enough time to scan the posts or comments and since social media is meant to be two-way communication, be social and respond!