Social Media Design: Part 2

Here are some more tips for improving your social media strategy, courtesy of Justin Seeley.

Last time we discussed some social media design issues related to individual social media platforms.  Today, I’d like to talk about integration across the social media platforms to improve your results.

• You need to get your social profiles organized and Justin recommends Claim.IO .  What this service does is secure your preferred user name across many social media platforms — for a fee.  It can coordinate your branding by using identical bios across platforms so when you change 1 bio, the bio across all platforms changes at once.  Cool, but a little expensive at $189 and up.  You can do it yourself for free, it’s just a little more work, but, hey, I’m cheap.
• Spread the word. When you publish something or upload a new video, tell folks about it.  I use Hootsuite to integrate across social media platforms so I can easily post a link to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin all at once.  I’ve used Networked Blogs too, but I don’t like them as much for several reasons.  Most seriously, you can’t control WHEN a link will post, which is bad when you have certain times when your posts are more effective.
• Be sure to respond to comments, especially complaints.  Interact with people on your social networks and remember the advice from Emily Post to be nice, thank people, be polite …
• Give people who follow you other ways to interact.  Invite them to join your Fanpage or follow you on Twitter.  Don’t just communicate in one social network.  Put social media buttons on your website so visitors can connect with you in these networks.
• Add links to connect to all your emails (I put them in my signature block; others add it to their stationary).  Put social profile links on your business cards.  I use Hashable to exchange business cards electronically. Not many people use it yet and it’ll be more valuable when it has more users, but it keeps me from losing business cards given to me at conferences, etc and, more importantly, others from losing my card.  New electronic devices and apps also help exchange contacts and promote networking.  Be sure you’ve provided all your connect information.