"Be a yard stick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”- Steve Jobs

1. PRODUCING QUALITY CONTENT
“Be a yard stick of quality.
Some people aren’t used to an
environment where excellence is
expected.”
- Steve Jobs

2. ALL MOST ALL OF YOUR TIME
ON SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD BE SPENT
DOING ONE OF FOUR THINGS:
• Informing
• Entertaining
• Interacting
• Converting to Business
Informing Entertaining Interacting
Converting
To Business
“One of the greatest challenges companies face in adjusting to the impact of social media, is
knowing where to start.” - Simon Mainwaring

3. INFORM YOUR FOLLOWERS
Be specific.
Typically, your followers are going to
come to you for some sort of information.
Many customers do research online and
then purchase in the store. The
information you offer is an added value
to your social media posts and helps you
be perceived as an expert in your field.
The information should come in specific,
valuable posts that people can use right
away, such as facts, statistics, steps, tips,
answers, offers, ect.
Share content.
Use your informational posts to serve as a
teaser of the knowledge your organization
or brand can share. The information does not
necessarily have to come from you either. You
can repost items on a social media site or
mention web sites on your blogs that relate
to your industry. For example, The National
Great Rivers Research and Education Center
may repost a Sierra Club post, which relates
to the Mississippi River. Do create original
content, though. You want others in your
industry to share your content, too.

4. REMAIN CONSISTENT
Cover subjects your followers will enjoy. Be creative, but not random. Don’t
post or write blogs about unrelated topics. Stay focused on your purpose.
Whether your business is an online jewelry dealer or pizza restaurant, the
most important key to customer satisfaction is consistency. Your consistent high
standards and qualities allow the consumer to have confidence in your brand,
business or organization. Do not fall short of the expectations you establish. If
you stray from expected topics, you risk alienating your followers and losing
them as customers.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA IS
THE NEW FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT
Consumers increasingly use
Facebook and Twitter to
supplement traditional
entertainment experiences.

6. BE ENTERTAINING
• Use Humor
• Share Content
• Post Photos and Videos
• Be Punny
Use Humor Share
Content
Post
Photos
Be
Punny
“Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention
spans. They are only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that
cat. And that can be a high bar.” - Alexis

7. 88% OF USERS CONSIDER VISITING SOCIAL
NETWORKING SITES A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT
Keep it related to your industry.
You get the attention of your
followers by informing them, but you
keep their attention by entertaining
them. Remember, keep to your
entertainment related to your
industry. Spice relevant content up in
entertaining ways by using antidotes,
facts, engaging statistics, little-known
histories, true stories, testimonials,
funny videos, beautiful photographs,
inspiring quotes, etc.
Make posts interesting.
You can inject entertainment into your
social media sites by:
 Using appropriate humor. This is one of the
fastest ways to create buzz.
 Share unique industry-related news stories.
Include your brand’s perspective.
 Share interesting or historic videos, photos
and artifacts.
 Be punny. Use a play on words.
 Shed light on little known facts.

8. FOCUS ON INTERACTING
There are numerous ways to
encourage interaction from your
followers.

9. THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TIME
SHOULD BE SPENT INTERACTING
• Ask Questions
• Seek Feedback
• Use Surveys
• Foster a Discussion
Ask Questions Seek
Feedback
Use
Surveys
Foster a
Discussion
“People will never respond to you more positively than when you seek to make your impact felt at the human level.”
- Cendrine Marrouat

10. NOTHING BEATS GENUINE HUMAN INTERACTION
People join social networking sites to communicate and share with others. Remember,
social media is simply communicating via new technologies. Social media is a new form of
mass communication that allows consumers to give direct feedback in real time. There are
numerous ways to encourage interaction from your followers:
o Ask a multiple choice question. For example, if you are tax firm you could ask “What is your tax filing style: early-bird
filer, mid-February filer, filing by the skin of your teeth or filing late again?”
o Ask a conversational question. Make sure not to offend. For example, if you make candles, ask your followers what new
scent they would like to see in your line.
o Foster a discussion that is not directly about your product but centers a topic in which your followers are interested. For
example, if you are a grocery store, share recipes and encourage your followers to share their recipes, too. You could even
highlight a follower’s suggested recipe each week. Make sure to give the follower credit and thanks.
o Use a polling feature or site such as www.surveymonkey.com to poll your followers. Ask them to rank your products and
reward them for the feedback. You could enter them in a drawing, email them a coupon or give them a promotional code
for completing your survey

11. SOCIAL MEDIA IS MORE ABOUT
PSYCHOLOGY THAN TECHNOLOGY
Listen and respond to your followers.
• You need to interact also. Listen and respond to your followers. Respond honestly and be polite.
Truly listen and respond as often as you can.
• When you engage with customers to answer their questions and acknowledge their comments, you
are solidifying your relationship with them by building a bond through social media.
• It is important to question, answer, listen and respond when producing effective content for social
media sites.

12. Build relationships.
Educate your follower about your product and, when the
need arises, hope the relationship you have fostered with
your follower results in a sale.
Treat your social media relationships the exact same as
you would as your real life relationships. After all, that is
what they are.
Don’t be spammy.
You wouldn’t just walk up to someone on the street and say,
“Buy my product.”
The same is true for social media.
Have tact.
Convert fans into consumers.
Effective social media marketing converts followers into
customers.
It is okay to sell your products via social media sites some
of the time but not all of the time.

13. SOURCES
Mayer Orsburn, E. (2012). The social
media business equation. (1st ed.). Boston,
MA: Cengage Learning.
www.briansolis.com
Louise Jett