Helping out your social media communities is the easy part. If you’re going to promote someone’s content, let him/her know by tagging him/her in your Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ message. After all, you want others to know that you are promoting their content in the hopes that you will get something meaningful in return. This then begs a few questions: What should you do when someone follows or mentions your brand? Or better yet, what is the correct way to respond so that you’re getting the most benefit you can from that visibility?
How to Respond When Someone Mentions Your Brand on a Social Network
When first starting a business, many social media users do an excellent job responding to someone who has mentioned his/her brand on a network. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always last. As a company begins to grow, it can be harder and harder to keep up with the many follows and attention that you might get through social media. In fact, many large companies have even hired someone to control all social media efforts because it can be so overwhelming.
Nevertheless, stressful or not, it is still important that you respond to those who have mentioned you on a social network. Below are some of the things you should do when someone mentions your brand on social media in order to get the most benefit:
-
Return the Favor.
You can promote a message that the company has tweeted or shared. You do not want to retweet or re-share something just to be nice, but rather take some time to learn about the company and read the content. If you think it could be of value to your readers, then you can share something in return. As long as the content you are sharing is relevant and quality. This is a great way to say thank you to someone for mentioning your brand as well as create a potential partnership in the future. You can learn more about the importance of partnerships for marketing and SEO here.
If you can’t find anything worth sharing, you will want to check and see if the company that has mentioned your brand is one that you want to connect with. For example, if you are a company that specializes in IT services, you likely have no reason to connect with a company that sells smoothies. If the company has few followers and little social networking activity, then it’s really not worth your time to try and make a connection. However, you still want to be polite and keep your company brand in good standing.
-
Message the Company.
You always want to say thank you whether it be through a direct message or on the wall of the network. If this is a company that you think could be interested in your brand, send them a message saying thank you and how they can learn more information. If you have a promotion or deal happening, you may want to send this along with your message.
If the company that has mentioned you is one that you think you may want to do business with or connect with in the future, consider following them back so that you can help re-share their content at some point in the future.
-
Follow-Back.
A follow-back is always exciting for a company because they then have the opportunity to get someone hooked. That follow is going to see the messages a brand sends out via social networking, so this could be the potential to a great relationship. If someone mentioned you on a social network, check to see if they are worth following. If so, this is a great way to return the favor. However, be careful that you are not offering to follow-back just any account. That will not be meaningful in the end, and if you suspect a company is simply following you for a follow-back then it is not worth your time.
Although it can be difficult to respond in every single way possible, it is important that you make some effort to respond to each person that mentions you on a social network. You will want to be quick and polite in your responses in case you are talking to a potential customer or potential business partner. Always keep in mind, however, the importance of really researching a company or an individual so that you’re not getting connected to anything spammy. If you can do this you should be making the most of every social media you receive. Check out this article for even more ideas and how to get more advanced.
How do you respond to someone mentioning your brand on a social network? Let us know your experiences and your thoughts in the comment section below.