7 Social Media Focal Points to Evaluate Now!

A few days ago I shared with you that social media was not the answer, but an amplification. If you are doing things well, it will carry over into the digital sphere. If you are doing some things poorly, social media can put a huge magnifying glass right on top of it.

With that in mind, let’s discuss a few of the things a business needs to succeed in the space. Below are seven focal points I want you to start evaluating this week.

1. A Well Designed Website – I am not talking about making this thing look like a Steven Spielberg movie, but a website with a clearly defined message that is easy to navigate. The more clicks it takes, the more visitors will get frustrated and leave. It is hard enough to get them there, let’s keep them!
2. A Blog with Consistent Content – A static website is a no-go in 2011 and beyond. It is important that your digital presence is dynamic, alive, and constantly feeding your visitors with value. The content does not always need to be groundbreaking, but it needs to be real.
3. SEO Strategy – You spend all kinds of money trying to figure out how to reach your target demographic, yet have no clue what they are using for search terms online in your industry. Google loves fresh content, and it is important to create content built on an SEO strategy that allows your potential customers to find you in the organic search. Social is now a bigger part of SEO, and that trend will continue. Things are changing rapidly in this area, and help will always be needed to keep up.
4. Training employees to be ambassadors – Employees are ambassadors by default, and this is amplified in the digital age. If they have a TGIF mentality, it is hurting your bottom line. Monday should not be a day of dread, but a celebration of a fresh week. This mentality can only be created and spread from the top down, and how your employees feel about the company is a reflection of it’s leadership. We all understand work is not always fun, but it should be rewarding, and little things add up. Start looking at some ways you can make small changes that can increase the morale of your workers.
5. Well Defined Corporate Digital Policies – What are your employees doing online? This is something every single company, large or small, needs to be monitoring. As stated in #4, an employee is an ambassador of the business, and you need to make sure that they are representing you appropriately. So let’s give them the proper tools and training to make sure the policies are clearly defined.
6. World Class Customer Service – This does not take a lot of money, it takes hiring the right people and training them correctly. If you are getting complaints on the phone, this is only going to carry over in the social media space. You might want to look at how things are internally, and find ways to improve them, before you make the jump into social.
7. Stop stressing out about the competition – I am not saying to ignore the competition, keeping up with industry trends is important, but do not let it consume you. Your company has it’s own personality, it’s own story, so keep writing new chapters. As long as you are focused on the above steps, you will have little competition anyway. Let’s be honest, I can write and teach this stuff all day long, but the reality is very few will actually do it. Why? It takes a lot of work and commitment, and most people are not willing to do what it takes.

Take some time to look at each of these 7 focal points, and really evaluate your current position with each of them. For the companies that work on improving in these areas, the rewards will be great. You will see a happier workforce, earn raging customer fans, and most importantly, increase revenue!

On the next installment I will start breaking down these 7 social media focal points, so come back soon for even more massive value!

Harrison Painter