Cutline Speaks

10 Ways to Make Social Media Work With a Small Team

posted by Meghan on June 25, 2009

Earlier this week, I attended a Commonwealth Club Inforum SF event hosted by Sarah Lacy. The topic was focused on ways non-profits and SMBs can make the most out of social media tools within a limited budget. The discussion centered on how a one to two person team could create social media solutions without taking too much time. This led to a pointed discussion on the most common mistakes as well as prime opportunities in the social media world.

A lot of companies and entrepreneurs I've spoken to recently have asked how they should use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn -- especially with a limited staff and budget. 

In an effort to be more social, I thought I'd share the top 10 points I took away from the discussion. But, first, the one thing that we all need to remember is: Know who you're trying to reach and what you want to get out of it before getting started. 

1. Have one voice. 
Agree on final messaging and communication materials with your team so that everyone is on the same page. This includes both your culture and how your "voice" is portrayed in images as well as Twitter responses.

2. Describe yourself in searchable ways. 
Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.

3. Turn your volunteers and customers into evangelists. 
Engage with your customers and they'll share their experience within their networks. If you have volunteers for your non-profit, have them work on your social media presence by taking pictures of events and engaging with other social networking sites.

4. Set up feeds to capture conversations about your company. 
If you have a small team, you should find easy ways to listen to what your audience is discussing on social networks. Twitter has updated its search options so that you can save a search string for your company, products, executives, etc. to stay informed of conversations in real time.  

5. Find time to respond. 
Make sure you take the time to respond, otherwise the rest of these tips are for naught! Reply to people who mention your company/industry/interests on Twitter and leave comments on relevant blog posts and news articles.  

6. Beauty is only skin deep… and so is Flash.
Flash sites may be pretty on the outside, but the animations provide no way for your site to be picked up by the search engines. Ensure that your keywords are directly on your page and not just embedded in the flash animations. The same goes for your products, if someone can't share the URL to a product with friends or a social network because there is no URL for its animation, then you've lost the viral connection social networks provide...and potential customer evangelists.

7. Provoke a conversation.
Bring out your brand with emotion. Use pictures and videos to show your culture and brand. Post pictures that users will want to share and discuss. For example, take pictures of a fun new product your office received, a crazy design your employees came up with, or your company mascot to start a conversation. 

8. Understand the return on engagement of Facebook. 
Not all companies should create a fan page or group unless it's updated constantly and interacting with Facebook followers. The best advice for non-profits and small companies is to use Facebook for event updates (Eventbrite will help you manage the number of attendees, Facebook will spread the word).  A fan page is also a great way to find evangelists who can help promote your brand and share your picture or video content within their groups.

9. Make sure your own house is in order. 
Use Google's Web Master Tools for SEO advice. You shouldn't engage with social networks until your site is final, searchable and accessible to your audience.   

10. Increase your PageRank.
Aside from keywords on your site you can create separate landing pages and sub-domains that will also help your page ranking. Understand that Facebook and other closed sites will not promote your page rank. Be part of the conversation on these sites and draw your audience back to your page.

Here are the panelists if you'd like to follow them:  

Jeremy Toeman, Founding Partner, Stage Two Consulting (@jtoeman)
Adam Lasnik, Search Evangelist, Google (@thatadamguy)
Ben Parr, Associate Editor, Mashable (@benparr)
Chris Lindland, Founder, Cordarounds (@cordarounds)
Sarah Lacy, Valley Girl Columnist, BusinessWeek; Co-host, "Tech Ticker"; Author, Once You're Lucky. Twice You're Good - Moderator (@sarahcuda)

Tags for this post: social networking