The First Rule of Social Media is Tell Everyone About Social Media

This ain’t Fight Club. It’s not a secret.

If your business and organization are using social media, whether you’re new to the game, or have been doing it for years, you need to make sure everyone knows.

Everyone.

When I was a kid there was this song we sang in Sunday School called “This Little Light of Mine.” The main part of the song was:

This little light of mine. I’m gonna let it shine.

And one of the verses was:

Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine.

In other words, if you have a light, you use it. You don’t hide it. A light is meant to be seen. And yet so many businesses create a social presence online, and then forget to tell anyone. They just assume that people will find out, and then wonder why nothing is happening.

Whether your social media presence is brand, spankin’ new, or several years old, make sure you are telling people about it. Every day.

Who should you tell?

Employees and coworkers

I’m often shocked at how often the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. I’ve been the victim of this myself in various jobs, and there’s nothing worse than being out of the loop. Talk to your employees, coworkers, superiors, and anyone else in your business, to let them know what social media channels you’re using. Ask them to connect, like, share, pin, tweet, etc. They hopefully know your business better than anyone and can be strong brand ambassadors, letting others know.

As they work with your customers and clients, it’s important that they are fully aware of all that you are doing both online and offline. An educated workplace is important.

Customers and potential customers

You can’t just create a social presence and expect your current customers, let alone potential customers, to just find you. You need to cultivate growth by telling them. Tell them in your print materials, marketing and advertising materials, on the phone, in your brick and mortar office or store. Tell them in your emails and on your website.

No matter what you do, tell them.

Shout if from the rooftops. Write it in the sky. Post it on the wall.

But by all means, tell people.

A light won’t illuminate anything if you hide it under something. But if you let it shine, people will notice. And the more people you have shining that light, the better. It’s like taking one candle, and lighting another. And each of those candle’s lights yet another, and so on.

What creative ways are you using to let people know about your social media presence and what you’re doing online?

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1aLcaA0