Building Business Relationships through Social Media

Set goals and dedicate time to engagement

In my experience, the trouble most businesses and brands have with proactively initiating conversations on social media is a perceived lack of time. It’s one more thing, and in some cases one more thing too many, to do on top of an already ambitious publication schedule, responding to comments and questions, and other marketing activity.

.1. Don’t waste time — yours or theirs

The main difference between social networking for business and social networking with your friends is that there is no time to waste. You are there to make connections and develop relationships that move you toward your business goals.

As social media expert and author Martha Giffen reminds us:

“Social media is all about engaging, but to be effective for your biz, it has to be treated as a marketing tool. And, it has to produce results. Otherwise, it’s just online chatting.” ~ Martha Giffen

2. Set goals for your business

You do have goals for your social media use, don’t you?

At the very least you should have some sort of goal around the number of meaningful connections you make each week. Setting measurable goals allows you to plan your social media time much more effectively.

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So how do you build goodwill on a social media site?

People who should listen to this show are entrepreneurs,