I am frequently asked what I believe are the keys to being successful with social media as a business. In many cases, success in social media and how it is attained varies based on industry, company, and even niche. However, I believe there are four fundamentals which can be applied to almost every business and when they are put into use, will lead to a healthy return on engagement from your efforts.

1. Content is King – Customize your business profiles to your brand (Facebook pages with custom tabs, boxes, profile picture, Twitter accounts with custom background, etc.) with an abundance of detail so that someone who visits these profiles can get sufficient information about your company without having to go to your website, saving them time and selling your product/service for you.

2. Continually Build Your Community – Just as you do in the ‘real world,’ your community is not just created once and then done, you must connect, build relationships, and continue to get to know the people more in-depth. Also, build relationships outside of a specific realm (ie. don’t ONLY try to build relationships with customers). You may develop strong bonds with some people, who may become your raving fans and in turn sell your services for you, while others may remain acquaintances or simply lose touch. You should feel confident to add new friends, follow more people, ask people to connect with you on LinkedIn, and develop the trust in new people by being genuine. Continue building relationships outside of having a specific realm (ie. don’t ONLY try to build relationships with customers).

3. Educate and Provide Value – People can sniff out a ‘slimy salesman’ from a mile away online as well as in person. If you approach social media with the sole purpose of advertising and promoting yourself, you will quickly dissolve the community you worked so hard to build up. Continue to educate your followers with quality information about your industry, products, core competencies, etc. and provide value to your target market. There is certainly a time and a place for self-promotion when interspersed with genuine, useful contribution to the community.

4. Be Consistent – Just as you wouldn’t launch a TV pilot without the goal of continuing on with a series, you shouldn’t launch social media efforts only to provide a blank Twitter feed or Facebook page. Consistent, quality posts will generally attract steady, loyal traffic (that is if you’re building up your community!) Your social media strategy should include an outline for frequency and subject of of blog posts, Facebook posts, Twitter posts, etc.