Why Your Business Should Be Sweet On HootSuite

Every week it seems like I'm turning clients on to yet another content sharing social network that their business should use to augment its brand presence and get new customers. I can almost hear the collective sighs from outside of the office door - "Another one???"

True, it can feel like a daunting task to maintain multiple social media accounts for your business and with recent data evidencing that every network is accompanied by dramatically differing demographics and times of the day that each social network is most active, you could easily fill entire days of the week attempting to optimize your marketing efforts towards them all. But who has the time for that? Enter HootSuite - a Vancouver BC based tech company that takes the burden of your social media and content scheduling and streamlines it into one convenient platform.

Here is what HootSuite can do to ease your social media / content marketing efforts:

1. Add Multiple Social Networks

HootSuite allows you to add your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts (among others) and recently added Instagram to its growing Social network support platform and will be adding others such as Blogger to the mix soon. This allows your business the ability to coordinate social media marketing into one convenient place.

2. Add Multiple Business Apps

Popular business applications such as SlideShare have also now been integrated into HootSuite and they will be adding others like Yammer in the near future. This allows businesses to streamline and enhance their ability to share presentations and other business applications amongst staff, investors, and prospective B2B customers.

3. Per-scheduling

In addition to streamlining all of your business' social media networks and business applications into one place, HootSuite allows you to pre-schedule tweets, posts, and releases into the future. For those that don't have the time to revisit their content sharing networks every day (or every hour) of the week, or simply forget to do so, this is the most efficient tool on HootSuite. You can pre-schedule activity months in advance.

4. HootSuite's Mobile App

For business owners on the go, the HootSuite mobile app is a favorable option with an incredibly easy to use dashboard. You can schedule your tweets, posts, and releases while standing in line at the bank, local coffee shop, or anywhere else you have to pass the time.

5. HootSuite Upgrades

Many of HootSuite's features are free and for the most part small to medium businesses will get along fine with the basic account. However if you would like to add other members of your company as administrators, take advantage of HootSuite Social Analytics, or manage unlimited social profiles and networks such as Google+ via HootSuite, then you may want to consider HootSuite Pro or HootSuite Enterprise upgrades.

Advice

Using HootSuite can take a tremendous load off of your back with regards to social networking and content sharing. While it varies depending on how important these marketing strategies are to your business, I recommend selecting one day of the week and devoting at least one hour towards prescheduling of tweets, posts, and releases for your multiple networks. Don't forget to still check-in daily to see if you've had any responses to your efforts in the form of retweets, likes, comments, messages, or better yet - requests for more information. The whole purpose of this after all is to get more customers. HootSuite simply allows you to better maintain that effort.

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Why Social Networking for Business Should Not Be Automated

Every piece of a business system can be automated. However, with automation comes the possibility of computer generated errors, and this problem becomes even worse when the automation has to do with content driven material such as social networking. If there is a piece of communication that should not be managed by computers, it is the social media component of a business's advertising strategy.

Newsletters are commonly one of the most automated pieces of social networking. These newsletters are great for generating top of the mind awareness that every business needs to generate revenue. However, when these tools make mistakes, they are usually grievous errors. For example, there are many systems that will allow a business owner to insert the first name of a prospect dynamically using code. There are times when this code is accidentally changed and the code itself is shown. There is nothing more challenging than recreating the goodwill that a person has built up when a customer realizes that the newsletter was not generated specifically for them. This look behind the curtain can cause the consumer to look elsewhere because they want to work with a company that appreciates them and does not try to have automated customer service systems.

Content created for social networking for platforms by computers also tends to be less than ideal. This is because the computer (as much as people have made advances in this field) does not understand language as well as a real live person does. Even when grammatically correct information is generated, it usually lacks the feeling that it was generated by a real human. Therefore, the content is ignored by search engines (if it does not pass the duplicate content filter) and humans alike. This equates to a loss of money because the advertising method is not effective at engaging the end user (in this case the reader of the material).

Another area where content is automated is the "friend" and "follower" requests. However, this is one of the worst places to automate your social networking system. These computer-generated programs are built to find people speaking on a certain topic or keyword and to automatically request them to be a "friend" or "follower." In theory, this practice sounds like a good idea. However, what happens is that these programs find other programs doing the same thing. This inflates the friend and follower list to high levels but these networks contain nothing but programs that are talking to programs. There are no end users and if there are real users, they usually end up frustrated by the amount of link spam presented by those programs. In the end, these programs end up speaking to no one and generate no money on their own.

In closing, a business should not automate their social media campaigns because computers do a poor job of relating to humans socially. A real life person needs to run the social networking campaign (especially if it is social networking for business purposes) because people like to talk to real people and not programs developed to speak to humans. Having a real person run the social media program will allow the business to feel more human and show that they care about the ideas and needs of their consumer base.

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Should Social Networking for Business Be Done Every Day?

Social networking for business should be used every day. The lifeblood of a business is revenue, and part of generating revenue is discovering resources that can help it sell more over the course of a year. The best way to find more resources is to network with people and businesses that can provide beneficial business arrangements with that person or business.

There is no faster way to build up contacts than to network with them online. Networking with people online is faster than meeting with them at a function. This is because a person can be in one place and still meet with someone in a completely different country. However, this still can be a beneficial business arrangement because that person or business may have resources available that are beneficial. Yet, all it took was a socially networking on the internet to make the business deal a reality.

Networking is also a skill that must be cultivated through practice. A person can practice their ability to market and network through the internet without the anxiety of a face-to-face contact. This allows the social networker to practice their ability to relate and present solutions with almost no anxiety. The practice also enables the person to feel more relaxed and confidence when they are meeting someone in person. This will lead to higher sales and more effective meetings with potential customers and peers alike.

The use of social networking for business on a daily basis will also keep a business on top of the newest developments with their field. A business that does not change will be left behind by those businesses that can adapt to the new paradigms that are coming in the future. Social media is a great source of information that is not typically reported on by the normal media outlets. An eye on social media will keep a business on the bleeding edge of their product or service.

Social media is also limited in scope. Social media usually has a limit to how much can be said in each post. This capability teaches a person to be very succinct in their speech patterns and makes them more effective. A major reason most people have less than perfect grammar is that that they tend to embellish what they are saying for effect. Social media platforms do not allow a person to say more than what needs to be said. This helps a person learn how to get to the point in any conversation, then focus on whatever project their attention should be on that current moment.

The ability to have effective social media conversations for business is a skill that must be built up over time. Therefore, a business needs to focus on developing their network every day. Once this network is developed, they must keep in contact with that network every day to keep their business at the top of their customers' minds. This is the best way for a business to give themselves a chance to succeed on the social networking platforms and gain more sales through the medium.

Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective   Social Networking - A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn   Making Efficient Use of Your Social Media Campaign - A Debut Into Social Media Marketing   Top Reasons to Engage on Twitter   How Are You Leveraging Your LinkedIn Groups to Build Your Empire?