12 Social Media Tips Every Online Marketer Should Know

Are you a business owner, online entrepreneur, Internet marketer, social media strategist or any person who utilizes the power of social media? If you spend time on online places, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Digg, or in any blog, then you should know that you are in the land of social media. Whether you are marketing or advertising your business or just promoting yourself on those online realms, you should always optimize your way to success. If you want to gain more friends, followers, likes, shares, retweets, stumbles, digs, plus, repins, trust, recommendations and other favorable things that can happen to you in the social media, you should read and keep in mind the following 12 social media tips every online marketer should know.


1. Be positive

You are there to earn followers, connections and friends. With the tough problems people face everyday, positivity is a must to create a comfortable zone for them. You need to be a positive person. It doesn’t mean you need to fight and drive away all the people who are contradicting your Facebook statuses, tweets, or Google shares. A truly positive person knows how to positively handle negative people. So learn how to rebuke gently.


2. Don’t forget to socialize offline

Your social media campaign should not only be limited online. You should also socialize offline. For example, there are many groups on Facebook that you may join in. Some of these groups will conduct physical assembly for various purposes, such as partying, seminars and workshops. You can join them to personally meet the members. People who have already met personally get closer relationships and interactions online. Moreover, your social media marketing campaign should not only be promoted on the Internet, you should also present them offline. For example, your Facebook pages and Twitter URLs can be included in printed materials, like your business card, in the billboards, or just anywhere you can put it outside the online world.


3. Don’t be the last to know

The Internet technology and the social media world are fast revolving. Updates are frequently happening. Hence, you should always be watchful with the latest trends to avoid letting your social media profiles outdated. Furthermore, you are also there to bring the freshest information and resources to your friends. Therefore, always keep your eye on what’s happening on the news everywhere.


4. Provide answers and solutions

Be a light. People will usually go to a place where they can obtain answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. If they are bored, provide them entertainment. You can share entertaining photos and videos. If they are sad and troubled, you may give them hope, comfort and encouragements. In our Facebook Page, I regularly share inspiring quotations to our followers to keep their motivation, and they work! They actually receive more likes than the links we share. The reason is that quotes are short, quick to read, and almost everyone can relate on them.


5. Compete with yourself, cooperate with others

The social media is like a blue ocean, it’s still a very wide and deep market. There are still many opportunities to discover. Although you need to keep an eye on your competitors, you don’t need to do that most of the time. Instead, you need to focus on discovering yourself and your creativity. There’s a lot more to offer. The key is to give your best. But in order to do that, you should push your limit, defy your weaknesses, get out from your comfort zone, and think outside the box.  Collaboration is also important in the social media world. So instead of fighting with your competitors, you can try to collaborate and join forces with them in providing the best for your followers or customers.


6. Be loyal to them first

The more followers or friends you have, the more the influence you gain. To earn more followers, you need to follow them first. To earn more loyal followers, you need to be loyal to them first. In other words, you need to be the first to prove loyalty. The key to prove that you will also be a loyal friend to them is to be selfless. This means you need to prioritize their benefits over your benefits. Learn how to sacrifice and let your followers be satisfied first. Don’t be hasty in earning instant profit. If you will gain more loyal followers through the loyalty and the quality you first offer to them, your profit will naturally come next.


7. Build trust

People’s trust is important to your social media campaign, but your trustworthy is what’s more important. Why? It’s because people can’t just trust you. You need to prove them first that you are worth their trust. Hence, instead of telling everyone you can be trusted, try to concentrate on proving them your trustworthy. Furthermore, to earn their trust, you should first show that you trust them. How to show it? Serve them first, trusting that they will also return that favor to you. Online businessmen and marketers who decide to profit from their followers without fully serving them first only show that they don’t trust their followers to stick with them in the future. Trust people by putting your investments on them. I hope you get what I mean.


8. Follow the rules

Social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Pinterest and other top social media are crowded places. Thus, they always implement rules and policies to maintain order. If you want to succeed online, you don’t just befriend the users of these social zones, but you should also become a friend to their owners, management or administration. In other words, follow the rules so that you will not be banned or be kicked out from their homes.


9. Be an expert and do your best to be the best

Have the voice of an expert. Social media is about communication and interaction. If you want to earn trust, confidence and loyalty from your audience, you should always know, understand and practice what you say. You can’t persuade business minded people to follow your Twitter if you don’t know business. Likewise, you can’t convince fashion fanatics to follow your Facebook Fashion Page if you aren’t expert in the fashion industry. Therefore do your best to gain expertise, either from earning an educational degree or acquiring expertise from your self-earned study or experience.


10. Be beautiful

This should not be ignored by social media marketers. First impression lasts, it may not always be true all the time, but first impression will surely open more opportunities. Therefore, you should pay attention in making attractive the first things that audience see when they land at your social media pages, such as your profile photos, your Twitter background and your Facebook Timeline cover. You should also make your about page or information more interesting and engaging.


11. Be generous

People love freebies. They like individuals or companies who are generous. Obviously, if you want to be loved and be liked by many people, you should be giving. You can share your blessings and profits by rewarding your followers or by giving them giveaway items or services. You can also conduct contests to give away prizes. Contests create a buzz and increase your audience. Also, generosity isn’t only limited to giving money and tangible things. You can also be generous with your time and energy. Thus, share more time and attention in interacting and helping your followers and friends.


12. Don’t get too addicted

My final social media tip maybe common but this is not easy to get rid of. There is so much fun in the social media. That is why if you spend more time on it, you will more likely get addicted. And when we say too much addiction, it can become a distraction. It can ruin your focus and concentration on the things that you should be doing. It also decreases your productivity, profitability and even your work-life balance. Therefore, take caution and control. Be a social media strategist who knows how to manage time effectively.

I hope you learn some good lessons in this post. Always remember that social media, although using technology as its medium, is still all about human relationships. Therefore, be humane.