Part Two, continued from Part One here
6. What other experts in your niche can you network with, and how do you find them on Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn etc?  Are you networking with other people and groups within your niche market that may be already considered experts in the field? If you do, not only will you learn a great deal, but you’ll also be able to develop relationships with these experts and therefore raise your own businesses status in the social communities. By aligning yourself with these experts that are already much respected in the social communities and within their niches, you’ll gain an almost an instant respect and credibility. When this happens you’ll see your subscriber numbers go through the roof because you’ll have a great number of your subscribers share your sites and info with others.
7. What tools and software will you use to automate a portion of your social media marketing? There’s a lot of programs and software to automate portions of you posting and tweeting with you followers/customers, most have a free option or trial as well as paid versions that will handle a lot more duties. Some of these include: Socialoomph.com, Socialblaster.com, Socialposter.com (submit to up to 250 social and bookmark sites at once!)
These sites provide a great way to give your followers and customers a constant drip of information and keep them in tune with what your company is doing. While this may seem like the ideal way to ‘set it & forget it’ be aware that the whole point of social networking is to answer and support comments and questions in real time. These automated systems can certainly help, but there is always going to be a need for a ‘real person’ to monitor the goings on.  If customers and followers get the impression that a twitter feed is set only to “transmit” they’ll stop engaging and the conversation will be lost.
8. Is your current social media campaign currently providing valuable information to your followers that is different then your competition? Just as in the early days of email marketing, the key to get people to become subscribers and followers is to give away high quality, valuable information in the beginning and expect nothing back in return. This is the stage of relationship building, and it’s one that must NOT be overlooked. People only buy from those they know and trust. It’s not only OK to stand out from the crowd…it’s imperative! You must give without want in order to receive. Something as simple as a video on your site showing your product, process or people can make people more interested in your company.
9. Is your website setup to allow interaction amongst your followers? Nowadays most all websites have their own blog. Is your website allowing for your followers and subscribers to interact with each other? Having a very interactive site will allow followers or subscribers to build some of the content for you,  you’ll also be able monitor the conversations taking place so you’ll know exactly what your subscribers want and need. Once you know the problems they are asking for solutions to, you’ll be able to deliver laser targeted information to them.
10. How are you handling the input that is being contributed by your followers? Is there a dedicated person to perform this duty or is it shared? If this task is handled by a number of different people, you may find that there is no consistency when they respond to a comment or question from your subscribers on your site. By having all this monitored by a social media management company, or a single person, you’ll be able to gain that consistency…not only in the responses, but also allowing the personality and manner of speaking of the company shine through. This will give your customers a greater sense of trust and confidence in your company.
A few or hopefully all of these suggestions will work for you.  What’s the best piece of advice that you have ever received regarding a Social Media Strategy for your business?