How can you use social media to help support your company? I just returned from SAP’s SAPPHIRE NOW and discussed this question with many marketers from around the world. In fact, one marketer requested help to become a “social media Jedi”. So, I wanted to put together some first steps to help anyone to become a social media Jedi for their company. Most marketers with whom I spoke at SAPPHIRENOW are comfortable with activating social media messaging on official company Twitter and Facebook channels. However, when it comes to activating their personal social brand on Twitter, LinkedIn and other platforms, it is another story. (This is where we need Yoda’s advice.)

Whether you work for a 60,000-employee company like SAP or a smaller 100-person organization, it’s key to be part of their social business to help extend and humanize the brand. If every SAP coworker engaged in one weekly social media action there would be an incredible brand-extending impact. For instance, by sharing a Business Innovation Blog post, updating a LinkedIn status with an SAP article, or liking a post on Facebook at least 312 million incremental impressions (assuming every coworker has only 100 followers) would be generated to help amplify and extend the brand; and that does not consider sharing, liking, commenting and retweets.

5 Steps To Start Being Social At Your Company

Here are five easy steps to start to use your social media power and network to help your company:

  • Have A Goal. You wouldn’t go on a trip without a destination in mind, so, don’t start being social without an objective! I often hear, “I need to start Tweeting” or “I need to start doing social media for my work”. Statements such as those generate my immediate response of “Why?”. And the answer is usually some unclear explanation. Two simple goals for starting to “do social media” are: 1) Be an amplifier to extend the reach of your or your company’s message 2) Be a curator to deliver a mix of audience-relevant content to help address their needs or interest.
  • Work On Your Social Profile’s Curbside Appeal. Smart Money Magazine indicated that consumers value a landscaped home up to 11.3 percent higher than its base price. The same concept applies to your social brand’s curbside appeal. Spruce up your LinkedIn and Twitter profiles to make sure your curbside appeal makes people want to ‘buy’ your brand. 94% of people only look at the first page of search results. LinkedIn ranks higher than all other profiles. However, if it is not complete, then your profile will not rank on the first page of search results. People will check you out after they find and engage with your social media messaging. So, make sure to you spruce up your profile to set the right impression for your credibility.
  • Be A Stalker, Then A Talker. Look before you leap into the conversation. A great place to start looking and listening is to follow a selection of coworkers, clients, prospects, competition, media publications, thought leaders and company social media channels. Pay attention to the type of words, links and content that are shared and then use their messaging as your guide. The rule of thumb for social media content is that 1% create content, 9% modify content, and 90% read content. By being a part of the 10% of creators and curators, you can easily make a Jedi difference by amplifying and curating content to reach the 90% of the readers.
  • First, Master A Few Social Channels. Research conducted by InSites Consulting shows the average person actively interacts with no more than five brands on social media. By becoming a “human extension” of your company, you can increase the reach of your company’s content through your social brand even if someone is not following your company. Do not try to boil the social media ocean. And, do not focus on only one social media channel. It’s a big place. First master LinkedIn, Twitter and Hootsuite and then move on to other channels. Twitter and LinkedIn are two relatively open platforms that will let you listen, engage and reach others who are not following you. Hootsuite is a client application that will help you manage your listening and messaging.
  • Know The Rules Of Engagement. When in Tatooine, do as the Tatooinians do. When on Twitter, do as the (successful) Tweeters do, etc. etc. Understand the rules of engagement for each of your social media channels. Individuals have different engagement expectations of each social media channel. Once you start to use your own social media channels to get your messages and content distributed make sure to understand the best message tone, cadence, timing and overall styling to make the biggest impact. Sometimes you will need more than one tweet to make a difference, while other times one LinkedIn status update will do the trick of cutting through the clutter.

Do you have an interesting or successful way in which you have successfully amplified your company’s message with your personal social network? If so, please share below. Or, contact me directly at MarketingThink.com.

It’s time for your to embrace your social media force and start to take the steps to use your powers (and social media network) to help increase your company’s reach, engagement and conversion. And, if you are ever in doubt with what you can do or how to do it, just ask yourself, WWYD (what would Yoda do?) Or, just email me at [email protected]. May the social media force be with you.