Katie Wagner
A former television and news anchor, Katie Wagner segued successfully into social media marketing because, she says, the two roles call for the same set of skills:
“As a journalist, I learned to be a storyteller,” she says. “Now, I just tell stories about businesses instead of fires and shootings.”
The owner of Katie Wagner Social Media offers the following thoughts about social media:
- The most common misapprehension about social media: The biggest reason people give for not doing social media is the fear that an unhappy customer might post something bad about their company. In fact, says Wagner, you want an opportunity to address a customer’s bad experience. It’s a way to learn what your company can improve on. Plus, she says, customers go to social media when they’re frustrated and want resolution. When you respond, the tension immediately goes down. Also, when you respond to a complaint with respect and proceed to solve the problem, it shows the care and concern you have for your customers.
Top piece of advice about social media: This is a tool for conversation and building relationships. It’s not about selling or broadcasting news about your company.” It’s a two-way street, and you have to want to have genuine interactions to do it well.- Do you have to be everywhere on social media? Don’t try to do it all, Wagner says. “If you’re new to social media, don’t set up an account on every channel,” she advises. She suggests starting off with a facebook fan page. “It’s the easiest to do well, and facebook has the biggest audience.”
- Be consistent. Don’t bother to set up a social media page if you’re not going to post something at least twice a day.
- How much time do you have to devote to social media? Ideally, you should spend 15 minutes on social media three times a day. At the very least, do it once a day, Wagner advises.
- First five minutes: Share content
- Next five minutes: Answer questions and respond to comments
- Seek out pages that share your target audience. Then spend your last five minutes commenting on their posts.
Do you have a story to tell about social media? We’d love to hear from you, what’s worked for you, what didn’t. Please post your comments below!
