Social Media Marketing - Effective Guidelines

Listed below from my research of how others use their Social Media outlets are 5 recommended guidelines for the use of your social media.

1. Know Your Demographic:
   The primary thing to keep in mind regarding which form of Social Media to utilize is knowing your audience. Certain platforms are more effective at certain kinds of communication. Sally Whitwell, musician, comments how her text entries are far less popular than when she posts excerpts from her songs. This could be because of her platform on Tumblr, which is slated more towards music, pictures and video, or this could be due to her demographic. She produces an artform, and as such, sharing that art and using platforms which facilitate that will be far more effective than just sharing her experiences by text.
   
2. Effective Use of Your Platform:
   As stated above, a platform like Tumblr is made for more media based sharing than text based sharing. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your platforms. Wordstream notes the strengths of many of these different platforms.  Facebook and Google+, while being similar, have very noted differences with each other. Both allow for the sharing of text, videos, pictures and such and both have a very casual atmosphere. Google+ allows for an easy segmentation of your user base using their Circles, allowing you to target specific people with specific offers. As well, they have Hangouts, which allow for voice, video and text chat in a shared environment, as well as several tools built into it such as the sharing of YouTube videos and Google Drive documents.
   
   Yelp and Foursquare are more location-based, giving your brick and mortar retail space a place where users can relay their opinions on your goods and services. As well, you can offer special discounts to those who 'check in' to your business, sharing with their friends that they're visiting your establishment.
   
   Twitter, on the other hand, is extremely communication focused and is best for creating a dialogue between businesses and their users. Comment on what people have to say about your business, thank them for what they have to say and answer their questions! Sally Whitwell, as stated above, notes the importance of using your platform effectively.
   
3. Communicate with Your Social Media Manager:
   Eva Lucien of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association notes the importance of making sure management communicates with the social media team about what they would like to focus on when making their content. Lacking coordination means that the media you control might not necessarily be the first to post news on you, and you want to be able to drive that news towards your website. As well, all forms of your social media should be coordinated in their efforts, making sure to effectively use each platform, or even cross-reference them if one provides a better means for your goals, like Sega of America does with their Facebook and Twitter accounts, especially concerning Sonic.  Wordstream also notes the importance of maintaining a consisted brand image across your platforms, and this communication helps facilitate that.
   
4. Regularly Post Content:
   Copyblogger and Wordstream both note the importance of quality content. Remember that you are here to communicate with your user base, and that means creating content that they actually want to view and share with others. Make how-to videos, interviews, contests, things to grab your user bases' attention! Content is King.
   
5. Communicate with Your Audience:
   Remember that you need to communicate with your userbase. Don't just post, talk. Your customers are going to have questions, comments and concerns about you. Talk to them, but remember to use your time wisely when it comes to this! Forbes notes that you should never attack your users for their negative reviews. Instead, apologize and be political about it. Its far easier to lose customers than it is to gain them, and going on about how they're wrong and you're right won't help your image. After all, this is SOCIAL media, and when you attack your user base, others will see it.