What Understanding Is Required For Using Social Media For Business?

What skills are required for using social media for business? What understanding should we have for using social media for business? These are two questions that we should carefully consider when using social media to market our business in Halifax, Dartmouth, Truro and elsewhere.

(1) Understanding of Communication Skills

First and foremost, social media requires a good foundational understanding of communication. Did you note that I did not say “Broadcasting”? Communication, which is a two-way process, is essential for business period. Why should it be any less important for social media?

Creating “Like” and “Trust” with our customers comes as we create a stream of communication with our customers. Whether our business is big or small, we still need to communicate effectively with our customers in a meaningful way. It gets a little more involved with a super big business, but it still can be done well.

Communication is not a one way process. It has to be two-way. Customers want to communicate with businesses today. Social media can offer business a means by which they can do so. This is a great avenue to have. It allows us to have conversations with others that can influence those who are looking on. If that is not awesome, I don’t know what is.

Here are a few things to consider about communication:

• Do we listen till the customer is finished before we comment?
• Do we realize that the Internet has no tone and so, we need to make sure our customers understand what we are communicating to them?
• Do we understand that our customers are a privilege to have? Do we treat them as honored guests in our business communications?

There is so much to learn when it comes to communication. The better we are trained, the better our communications with our customers will be.

(2) Understanding of Business Best Practices

Secondly, social media requires a good foundational understanding of business. We just don’t buy something for a $1 and sell it for $2. There is a whole process involved in being a good business.

Marketing our message effectively requires a good understanding of what we have to market and what we can do to help our customers do better. There is so much involved in being a good business.

Here’s a few things to think of as Best Business Practices:

• Creating real value for the customer.
• Providing great customer service for the customer.
• Running our business ethically and correctly so that we stand the test of time.
• Providing a safe way for our customers to do business with us.
• Knowing how to price our products and services properly.
• Getting the tools that we need to get the job done, and knowing how to use them properly.

These are but a few. The more experience we have as a business, the better our foundational skills will get. There are skills that we will only acquire and develop by being a business for a while. Bottom line, we will understand business better after we get some business miles on us.

Summing it all up

Once we know how to communicate well and learn how to be a business, this will translate to a more meaningful and effective social media marketing strategy. We will have things to say that will come out of great experience. And we will know how to be a good business online as well as offline. This all comes as well gain more and more experience in business and dealing with others as customers.

My best advice for the road ahead: learn how to communicate effectively and correctly. And learn how to be a great business by studying best business practices. This will take your social media marketing to a new level.

So here’s to a great day of business for you.