10 Steps for Setting up Social Media for Your Business

1. Designate a social media person or committee.  This person(s) will need to regularly monitor and be set up to respond quickly to any requests or complaints. This person will also be in charge of communications quality and training for the rest of your staff.
2. Who is your audience? Decide on your target audience including clients, prospects and referral sources.
3. Decide on whether you will invest in original content (blog articles). If so set up an editorial calendar and writer. If referencing existing content, identify content resources that would be of interest to your target audience.
4. Set up a posting calendar of at least three times per week.  Also designate the time to be sent and any other specifics. Use a scheduling platform like Hootsuite to schedule posts.
5. Create a social media policy and get all employees and contractors to sign.
6. Set up monitoring of employee social media posts
7. Set up your Company Pages on Linked In, Facebook  and Twitter under the email/name of the owner or person in charge of social media. (Make sure the owner has account admin access.)
8. Get the word out:
   1. Install social media follow buttons on your website home page.
   2. Add social media links to your letterhead, business cards, store signage, invoices, and e-mail signature line. (Note: Show employees how to add these to their e-mail signature line.)
   3. When logged in to Facebook, select “Build Audience” and explore ways to build followership. Select “Invite Email Contacts” from the drop-down menu to send a message to your e-mail contacts asking them to follow your company page.
   4. Get your employees to join and follow you on Facebook and LinkedIn. (Note: Make sure they list your company as their current employer. Employees on LinkedIn are automatically followers of a company page.)
9. Ongoing:
   1. Follow other companies on Facebook and LinkedIn such as clients, community organizations, local charities, local government or business organizations and industry associations.
   2. Educate your employees about liking or sharing status updates that come from your company page. Their liking and sharing automatically goes out to their network of connections.
10. Set up regular training or best practices exchanges among employees.  Your Social Media committee can set up periodic lunch and learn sessions where sales producers and others share successes, questions and concerns.

Did I miss anything?  Please add in the Comments section below. Photo credit.