Social media is your fat mother-in-law

Social media was the shiny new object in the room we thought would level the playing field, and give us access to new customers for free. What we found out is that social media is like your fat mother-in-law. She must be fed. Often. And you must understand what the biddy eats, and that if you withdraw her food or offer her the wrong diet, she will morph into a digital Godzilla and turn your brand into a punchline.

So, before you jump onto this treadmill, here are a few things you need to know about social media in order to be more successful with her:

Treat it like a dinner party
It’s called social media, not sales media, for a reason. Just as you wouldn’t go into a room of strangers and start shouting about your great 30-percent-off deal, your social-media efforts should start with listening. See what your dinner companions are discussing and take note of what gets them excited before you join in.

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Social media is about engagement, conversation, and give and take. It’s about listening and responding. It’s not about being the guy at the table who doesn’t get invited back because all he could do was talk about himself.

Get a skilled person 
Yes, your high-school-aged niece does know her way around Instagram and Facebook, but putting her in charge of your social media is a bit like having a friend drive your Formula One at the Indy500 because you’ve seen him drive a stick shift.

Whoever is in charge of your social media is in charge of your brand. Be thoughtful who you give those keys to and give them the resources to do it well. You can assign someone to the task in house or contract it out to a specialist. Either way, if you don’t prioritize social media into your time and budget now, you’ll pay later in the erosion of your brand.

Choose the right platform
Just because you’re on Reddit every day doesn’t mean your customers are. You may be mystified by Instagram or have no interest in Pinterest, but if that’s where your customers are, that’s where you need to be.

Investigate the social-media habits of your desired audience and then build your presence there. Some platforms are better for certain purposes than others. Evaluate social-media brands based on what type of business you are, what you want to accomplish and who your target markets are.

Wishpond wrote a useful guide to choosing your social media platforms. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/19ToRhs.

Do research and have a plan
Determine how many posts you will need to create per week, what kind of content those posts will consist of and how much time you can dedicate to answering your followers.

Look into best practices for the channel you are considering. Ask people whose social media pages you admire to give you 10 minutes of advice. There are plenty of studies on the Internet that outline the best days and times to post as well as the kinds of content that scores well with followers. In other words, think the process all the way through before you commit.

Don’t give up
One of the worst things you can do for your brand is to start a social-media initiative and then stop. An abandoned blog or Facebook page undermines your credibility. When a potential customer finds your failed social-media page, at best, they are looking at outdated information. At worst, they assume you’re out of business. It’s better to not be represented in social media at all than to suddenly disappear. Create a long-term blueprint before you vault in.

Be strategic
You want to grow your followers? Create shareable content. Looking to increase trust? Write unbiased knowledge about your industry. Need to lighten your load? Invite an industry expert to take over your page for the day. You’ll leverage their followers and authority and gain validity with your audience. Tie your social media efforts to specific goals and you’ll find the process more rewarding.

Measure results
After you’ve written down those objectives, analyze the results of your actions against them. The advantage of social media over offline marketing is that you get instant feedback. Either people comment and share your content or they don’t. Listen to their feedback and adjust your efforts accordingly. This is a process of try, tweak, and try again. That’s all anyone does on social media, so don’t think you have to go into this knowing how to do it perfectly. Everybody learns as they go.

Remember, it’s a relationship
Social media is not a quick solution. It takes time. Even though it happens on a screen, the same relationship rules you use in your life apply. You get to be trusted by showing up, doing what you say you’ll do, showing concern for the other person, and being helpful for no other reason than you want to be.

You may not like your mother-in-law, but she’s the gatekeeper to your customers, so you have to respect her rules and sensibilities. Because like it or not, she’s sitting in the middle of your living room and she’s not going anywhere. Use these eight tips and she’ll stay fat and happy.

Marilyn Heywood Paige, principal of Paige Integrated Marketing, will speak Feb. 26 at the Broomfield Chamber of Commerce Small Business Summit. Contact her at www.paigeintegrated.com.