Effective use of social media requires that businesses think differently. This article offers specific steps for effective use of social media by businesses.

Business owners who are new to social media usually go through a couple of different stages of awareness and use as they learn the lessons of social media etiquete and effectiveness. The first thing that most business owners think of is “Great. Another way to push my products and services out to the market!” Actually, experience shows that the very worst thing that you can do in a social media environment is to treat the media as if you were a traditional broadcast media and start trying to push messages out to those who have connected to you.

Think of social media as being an analog of traditional social interactions, just online. What I mean is that if every time you went over to your neighbors house you started telling them that they should buy your products or services pretty soon the neighbors would pretend not to be home when they saw you coming. With social media the analog is that people who have already decided to follow you or be your friend will pretty quickly change their minds and in a remarkably short time you will not have anyone to push your message out to.

Instead, think about the things that people like to know about in direct social interactions. They like to know about stuff like events that are going on in the community, people that you have recently met that have interesting stories, great new restaurants that you have tried, good or bad experiences that you have had with the mechanic that worked on your car, etc.  These are exactly the same kind of communications that you should have over a social media.

Here is a convenient short list of ideas for things to distribute in your ‘Posts’:

1. Community Events: Everyone wants to stay informed of events that are coming up in their community. This includes Charity Events, Sporting Events, Musical Events, Artistic Events, Church Events, etc. Posting messages about events that you consider interesting and sending that to people in your community is a great way to stay in touch with others.
2. Professional Events: People who are connected to you at some sort of professional like knowing about events that are related to your and their professional interests. Examples include Business Networking Opportunities, Training Sessions, Seminars, and Conferences. These types of events also offer a great way to keep in touch with others by notifying your community that these events are upcoming.
3. Recognizing Others: When you have meetings with people on a professional level it is very nice to give recognition to the other party. Lots of business owners are involved in business networking groups which encourage 1-1 meetings. When you have a 1-1 meeting with someone be sure to notify others that you have met someone intersting and provide a link to that persons website so that others can investigate the person you met with.
4. Referrals: Most business networking groups encourage referrals and when you either have one or receive one it is great to recognize the other party to the referral. Thanking the person making a referral is great acknowledgement for their generosity, and letting others know when you make a referral, or thanking the person who performed a good service for someone that you referred, is a great way to acknowledge their professional services.
5. Interesting News: Most of us try to stay informed about events and developments in our industry and when we come across an interesting article it is good form to share a link with others about that information. Send a link with a short note to your community and let them know that they may find it an interesting read.
6. BLOG Posts: When you take the time to write an article in your BLOG you should share that article with others. BLOG Articles represent the single best way for you to create an image of expertise in your industry and to gain recognition for your authority. By sending a link to your newest BLOG Articles to your community you can help to educate those who are in your community while at the same time subtley encouraging them to contact you if they need additioinal information about the subject matter.

The above short list is a great starting point for generating messages that you send to your community. Building a community and maintaining your community will be the subject of another posting.

If you find that the above was helpful and you would like to get started with building your own social community for your business please visit www.NetOffer.com and Register for a Free Account.