Social and mobile networks bring new opportunities to businesses. With the emergence of Pinterest, Pheed, Vine and countless others, as well as, the strong network connections of Facebook and Twitter, businesses are gaining more leverage to build their brand. And the best part is that social networks are more mobile than ever, which helps businesses bring the buzz to their brands through growing reach and continue a powerful wave of social ecommerce.

So, how you do you stay ahead of the competition or even build a following? Here are three sure fire ways to keep you connected and build your brand across today’s social networks:

Plan for the Best

Social media isn’t just about putting up a Facebook brand page or a Pheed account; it also focuses on being timely and technologically savvy. Developing cross-platform plans can bring success, especially if your target audience is already familiar with different social networking sites. It’s important to understand the way users interact with the various networks and make sure you using each in the way they were intended. Taking a cookie cutter approach is a fast path to failure. In addition, assessing your customer’s social activities offers the best opportunity for leveraging your products and services.

Create a Positive Image

Brands such as Starbucks as well as those just starting out have managed to gain millions of social network fans and followers around the world and it’s not solely because they sell millions of cups of coffee every day.  It’s all about creating the right image and driving that image through a creating a unique and creative image. Building an image around a product in social media allows brand a lot more latitude then traditional media. It allows brands to have more fun, take risks, and do so again and again to see what drives conversation and interest. Successful viral campaigns don’t just test the brand, but actually work to make it memorable.

Ask yourself a series of questions before you start putting up a Facebook fan page or a Pinterest account. What story do you want to tell clients? How do you want people to remember your business?  What is the one thing that can make your brand stand out from the rest? Knowing the answer to these questions can to build and create the perfect image in social media circles for your brand.

Interact with Customers

Social media paves the way for excellent customer service and lets you build a community that reinforces your brand. The number of hits isn’t the only thing that makes a brand successful; being open and transparent to customers also counts. Reputation monitoring and building positive and open correspondence on your profiles is a key relationship builder for current and potential customers.

Monitoring what’s happening on your social profiles and your competitors can help, but directly asking your current and potential customers what they want can be an engaging and eye opening way to build your brand. Acting on that information and acknowledging the input on your social media profiles is paramount to achieving brand loyalty.

Effective social media marketing can bring amazing benefits to your business. Call us now so we can start maximizing your presence in online platforms and give your business its well-deserved spot in social media circles.