When you’re the one running the business — and doing the work to promote it — using social media can be a great way to reach your audience and connect with potential customers.
And with the rise of social media tools and the intimacy they promise [ironically, in an open online forum], there’s a widespread belief that sharing one’s personality could create more of a connection with consumers and lead to more sales.
The reasoning here is that, since there are so many businesses and people using social media, the best way to get attention is to be more genuine or to create some kind of online “personality” with quirky quotes or other off-beat content.
That’s no longer the case, says Kimberly Brind, a social strategist at Oracle, who recently warned of what she terms accidental social narcissism, describing it as “cross[ing] the line between sharing genuine opinion and overly promotional messages.”
Brind advises social media managers to be very selective about what they post online — not every coffee stop merits a Tweet — and to maintain a consistent “voice” online with both business and personal updates.
“Rather than channeling ‘two voices’ for business and personal, try to maintain a consistent and friendly tone in social channels — this helps you appear genuine,” Brind writes.
Above all, Brind advises a balance between straight-up business promotions and personal notes, where the business owner or manager is providing a glimpse of the personality behind the storefront while still making clear that their goal is supporting their business.
Use our Tips & Tricks to improve your sales in Warwick:
This is a new feature on Warwick Post, (Warwick, RI) where we collect the best advice on improving the social media presence for your business — and once you’ve brought everything up-to-date, get the most out of your online business profile and reach new customers in Warwick by creating a Featured Listing.
For less than $20 a month, you can add your Facebook page, Twitter feed, YouTube or Vimeo channel, menus and coupons to reach our growing local audience.
Get started by building a Basic Listing for free, and read more about the terms and conditions for upgrading to a Featured Listing.
For more information, email Publisher Joe Hutnak at [email protected]
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