NCET Biz Tips: Using Psychology to Master Social Media

NCET helps you explore business and technology

By Catherine Oaks

Catherine Oaks

Likes, comments, shares, pins, updates, oh my! Whether you have been in business one day or fifty years, you cannot escape social media. Chances are you have a friend, business associate, or employee who talks about social media and raves about how great it is. Everywhere you look, social media is around you.

When it comes to social media, many of us are in search of the Holy Grail. What is the key to unlocking its power?  It’s called Social Mediology, the study of social media from the perspective of psychology. When properly applied, it will grow your business far faster than ever before without emptying your marketing budget in the process.

How to make your social media spicy:

1. Strategize: decide which platform is right for you. Mentally go through the different platforms, check the demographics, and compare then with your target market. Determine upfront which social media platforms have the most potential benefit given your goals for your organization.

2. Plan: Formulate a plan for how you are going to use these platforms. Designate a specific amount of time you will be on each platform. Stay on top of notifications, accept connections with others, share a bit of something interesting with your followers and comment on other people’s posts.

3. Interact with the things others write, post or tweet. Be active in ways that connect you with other people, and that influence your clients through professional and personal interaction that is customized for each platform. Social media’s power multiplies exponentially when you use it to connect with others on multiple levels.

4. Commit: stay with the strategy you set over the long-term, engaged in the right behaviors regardless of your attitude. All is about using social media consistently over time, even if that means that you sometimes have to fake it till you make it!

5. Experiment: Many times, people don’t use social media because they are afraid to do something wrong.  There are still many unknowns about what is effective for social media. As a result, you will need to try different things. Be creative and try multiple facets to find out what works!

6. Be YOU: Being spicy means being YOU. Be authentic and cultivate real relationships in a real way and aim to make a difference in the lives of people by giving them time, respect and personal or professional help. Remember the know, like, and trust factors, essential to be successful on social media!

Employing these ideas can help you create a brand, build rapport with a variety of people, establish credibility, demonstrate your knowledge, build trust, and create evangelists that lead to referrals.

Learn more about Social Mediology at NCET’s Biz Bite luncheon on April 24. NCET is a member-supported nonprofit organization that produces educational and networking events to help people explore business and technology. Register for the event and get more info at NCETbite.org.