Six Tips For Better Social Media

So you've set up your Facebook and Twitter pages. Now what?

I spoke at ANLA Management Clinic about social media in January. You can find my presentation below. It contains a bunch of examples of how garden centers and national brands are using social media to communicate with customers.

Thanks to the panelists for the session, Melodie McDanal of Gardenhood in Atlanta (@melodiegardens) and Larry Grossman of Grossmans Garden & Home in Penfield, NY (@grossmansgarden). They also shared some great ideas and you should check them out.

Here are six tips from my presentation on how to enhance your brand using social media.

1. Don't forget the "social" in social media. Talk with people, not at people. Interact.

2. Post things that your customers will want to share with their friends/fans. This can include local information, links to stories (on your site or others), fun stuff.

3. Post photos and events on Facebook. Photos kill and events can be viral. And if I know my friends are attending your event, I'll want to attend, too.

4. Put your name (or the contributor's name) on your Twitter account. I like to know who I'm talking to on Twitter. I think Twitter represents less of a corporate identity and more of a personal conversation.

5. Integrate your social media. Ping.fm, HootSuite and Tweet Deck allow you to post once to multiple types of social media like Twitter and Facebook.

6. Also cross promote your social media. Post links to your Facebook page on Twitter, and vice versa.

Bonus Facebook Photos Tip: If you want other people to tag themselves in your Facebook photos, you need to change a default setting behind the scenes. Under your Fan page profile pic, click on Edit Page, then on Edit under Applications -> Photos. Edit Settings -> Allow all fans to tag photos.

See the presentation below for even more ideas.

Proven Methods To Enhance Your Brand Using Social Media

View more presentations from Sara Tambascio.

Twitter: Part II

I'm seeing more and more gardening and garden center Twitter accounts - nice! Kimmerg sent me a message asking what would make good content for a garden center Twitter feed.

And just today I saw this article - 10 Tips To Be Effective At Marketing On Twitter. There's some good stuff in there, including "you need to know the difference between posting often and spamming," "Make the most out of your account," and "Facilitate conversation!" Great tips.

I'd also say give lots of information gardeners can use. Thinking of the upcoming season, when should I start growing my seedlings? When is it safe to put annuals outside? What's the new annuals you're excited about? Stuff like that.

The thirst for online knowledge

I was on my microblog Twitter last week looking around for news on poinsettia sales, Christmas plant sales, anything. I searched for 'poinsettia' and I found quite a few recipes for the drink (champagne and cranberry juice, had no idea), but not much news on plant sales.

So I asked my Twitter followers, "Any gardeners out there following your favorite garden center's Twitter feed? Which ones? If not, would you like to, if it was offered?" Here are three responses I got:

have not found any. It would be great to find some

I would, if they tweeted. I don't think any of mine are. I'm in Wilmington, NC.

Sure, I would love to see garden center feeds!

We're the plant experts, and there are gardeners out there starved for information. Growers and retailers - give them what they're looking for!

I propose a New Year's Resolution. Step outside your comfort zone. Take a step towards your customers. Go to Twitter.com, click on 'Find People' at the top of the page, and search for jreck, gardenofwords and treesandshrubs. These are the users who commented above, and they have a thirst for knowledge about gardening. There are tons of other gardeners on Twitter, looking to learn more about plants and flowers. How about you set up an account and give them a tip of the week?

If you're on Twitter, let me know. I want to follow you. I'm stambascio. Follow me!

Update: Here's an article on how Ford, Dunkin' Donuts and Comcast are using Twitter corporately to communicate on a more personal level.