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We were surprised to see that we were trending on Twitter this week.

We love social media and use it a lot but don’t consider ourselves experts.

We do use a specific strategy though, and apparently, it’s working. So, what do we do?

Firstly, we have been posting consistently and on a daily basis to both Twitter and Facebook for about a year. We want to reach ordinary people, so we don’t use LinkedIn much, which is far more business to business.

I’m sure it’s possible to get where we are quicker, but we don’t employ a media company or Twifficionado to do it for us. It’s important to recognise that Social Media is about creating and building relationships, so quicker isn’t necessarily going to be most effective and someone else doing it for you isn’t necessarily going to help you actively engage your potential audience.

We schedule a certain number of Tweets and posts in advance, 2 or 3 a day Monday to Friday for Twitter, usually less for Facebook. We try to have a theme which is usually a mixture of talking about our plumbers, something topical if there is anything (usually, since we are a plumbing firm this is related to the seasons, but of course, that is going to be different for different businesses). Facebook posts can be longer, so need to be more spread out.

Again, it’s important to remember both these Social Media streams are about relationship building. Twitter moves incredibly quickly, so you need to be bright and snappy to catch anyone’s attention. By the same token, don’t expect people to see your Tweets, you can repeat what you’re saying in slightly different ways and in fact need to do this to reach your tribe. On Twitter, people will click on links and look at what you direct them to.

On Facebook it’s not wise to repeat yourself too much but posts can be a bit longer. However, most people won’t look at anything that isn’t accompanied by a picture or graphic and on Facebook, people rarely click on links or go anywhere else from there.

Hashtags (#) The hashtag is an essential tool on Twitter. It’s not very useful to use a hashtag with just 1 word , so we don’t hashtag ‘women’ but we do hashtag ‘womenplumbers’ and combine the two words into one.

It’s through using hashtags that you can direct people to your Tweets and get yourself trending. We also use them to highlight place names and other things people may be searching. Try not to use more than two per Tweet though.

Finally, engage, engage, engage!!

Social Media is SOCIAL! Join conversations, respond, reply. It’s not all about you. Don’t wait for people to notice or reply and comment to you. Spot and join in with what other people are saying, answer questions, offer advice, be friendly and helpful. Be funny if you can but not a clever dick.

It’s like a party, but easier if you’re shy.

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