They set goals:  Every decision they make moves them closer to achieving their goals.  I.e. Increasing engagement with customers, increasing the number of video submissions, email subscriptions, purchases, referrals, tweets, likes, brand mentions and the list goes on.

They focus:  Understand your target audience and keep an eye on where you invest your time.  How you communicate with your customers and what you talk about is key to running a successful campaign.  You can’t develop an engaged audience by being on every social media channel.  Sometimes less is more because it allows you focus and keep up with your audience.  

They communicate regularly and respectfully:  Paying attention to your audience and taking interest in their conversations is crucial.  Ask questions, respond in a timely manner and don’t shy away from criticism if it ever comes up.  Showing that you care about what your audience is saying will help you build a strong following.

They create a community:  They focus on having authentic conversations with their audience to stay relevant.  It’s better to delight your audience with real conversations rather than disappointing them with forced material.

They treat social media as a referral tool:  Rather than treating social media as a destination, they treat it as a referral tool to generate interest in their brand, drive traffic to their website or encourage email signups.

They have fun:  People use social media because it’s fun and entertaining.  The businesses that add some element of fun into their posts and learn to talk beyond typical business jargon will see their communities grow.

They provide value:  Followers want to feel like their time is being well spent.  Make sure you’re providing your audience with something of value.  You can teach your audience new things or share things with them that they may not be aware of.

Last week a new student of ours questioned the simplicity of our program. The student was comparing our learning material with social media books available from a local Barnes and Noble store. Without reading past the setup section of our guides, the student made a quick judgment on the quality of our material.

We decided to take the student up on the challenge and visited a local Barnes and Noble store right here in Silicon Valley.

What we found was astounding. The social media books were outdated and extremely difficult to follow, especially from a novice or intermediate student’s perspective. The books contained all sorts of technical jargon that even we had a hard time understanding.

Unfortunately a great number of people will simply purchase a technical or how-to book based on the number of topics available or by the thickness of the book itself.

This is exactly the issue our founder had experienced when learning social media even though social media education was still in its infancy. And when searching for material on the web there was an abundance of free material available to. However, more often than not, the material was outdated, lacked clear instructions and in some cases contained no strategies at all.

This is how MarketingCertified.com came about and it’s something we pride ourselves on.

Simple learning that is current and easy to follow. Our model has helped thousands of business professionals and students across the country learn social media through a simple and user friendly platform.

To learn more about our program please visit www.marketingcertified.com

Social media can be frustrating at times.  I mean, how does the recipe for your favorite dish get way more shares and likes than your epic post on choosing the right widget?  It’s easy to wonder if you should just post all kinds of random and non-business related things in an effort to get engagement.

Engagement is only useful if it’s building your brand or boosting your social media network.  You need to ask yourself how you can create social media content that gets people talking and encourages followers to share your material.

So how can you create content that gets the results you want?  One of the first ways is to understand that you need a good mix of different types of social media content.  You can’t just post the same type of content over and over again.  And even worse, you can’t just focus on your company’s product or service.

Here are three types of content you should include on your social media channels:

Conversational Content

Get the conversation going with your audience to get them engaged with you and your brand.  Ask questions, share opinions and solicit feedback to get people chatting.  Also, take the time to contribute to social conversations through comments.

Inspirational Content

This type of content helps to motivate your audience.  This is why photo quotes are so popular.  Another popular type of inspirational content are success stories.  People love to hear about how people overcame a challenge.  Be on the lookout for inspirational stories that you can share with your clients.

Educational Content

Educate your audience by sharing something new or deepen your audiences knowledge of a particular subject.  This can be in the form of how-to guides, tutorials, infographics, cheat sheets, or whitepapers.

Hopefully this post motivates you create a good mix of content moving forward.  Remember to find new ways to promote your content so they don’t come across as promotional posts.  Avoid sales speak with your content as much as possible as it can turn people off.  It’s ok to announce a special sale, don’t get me wrong, but if that’s all you’re doing your material will get stale and you’ll lose followers.

To learn more about social media tips and tricks sign up to our program at www.marketingcertified.com

From a business perspective, I would focus on putting even more time into Pinterest rather than spreading out your efforts using Instagram. Not only does it do well with Google, it’s also the perfect medium for businesses because you can share photos of all the great things you do, which will prompt people to follow you and share those pictures with their own network of people. Pinterest has also been shown as a much better referral source than almost any other site out there, meaning that people not only click through, they also tend to take action at a higher rate than most sites including Facebook.

When I make new connections through social media I always get excited because I have either made a new friend with similar interests or have found someone that I can help guide or in some cases even learn from.

In this post MarketingCertified.com covers off seventeen different social media personality types that you may have come across in person or on the web.  

Which Social Media Personality do you belong to?

Click here to post your comments on our Pinterest page.

I spend a lot of time each day speaking with new entrepreneurs who are excited about either starting a new business or expanding their small business. However, they fear they may not have the credentials, credibility or experience to pull it off. They sweat about their business idea or the thought of expanding into new markets.

They sweat about the fact that someone else has been in the space much longer and is more established than they are. They sweat when they picture themselves in front of a camera or on the cover of a news article.

Do you need to have the drive and talent to pull off a successful business? Absolutely yes. Do you have to be the best person in the room to pull off a successful business? Absolutely not.

It’s not just about you. If you spend your time worrying about yourself, you have missed the point entirely. Your business is about the people you currently serve or want to help.

It’s about their needs, their fears, and their dreams. None of us will ever be perfect. Someone will always be smarter, wittier, more charismatic and more experienced. Your people don’t care because they want to work with someone who is interested in helping them with their needs.

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living out our fears. It’s time for change and only you can change how you deal with your fears. Seek encouragement from those that are closest to you.