10tipsSince social media is and will remain one of the key topics in online marketing, Dr. Roland Heintze and Jörg Forthmann of Faktenkontor have compiled 10 key factors they believe make social media communication successful.

Take a look at the excerpt from their book "Vordenker in der Social-Media-Kommunikation" (translated, “Masterminds of Social Media Communication”):

1. Share of experience, not share of voice: Consider the give-and-take basis and give something back to the user, besides generating positive and relevant experience with your brand.

2. Choose the proper channels: Analyze where your target audience really is. Use blogs as the backbone of your campaign.

3. Be closer, more human and honest: Social media relations need close and interpersonal relationships.

4. Use emotions as a driving force for campaigns: It is recommended to create emotions to reach people and provoke reactions.

5. Content is King: Keep silent, if you have nothing to say, as social media needs relevant content – steadily.

6. Do not overestimate the share-effect: Commitment evolves from the close relationship of the community - much less from sharing.

7. Rupture the spiral of silence: Only one to three percent of the users provide posts, hence, encourage them to participate.

8. A change in corporate culture is needed: Trust the individual and rely on autonomy. Invigorate the process oriented working - away from hierarchies.

9. Commitment counts, not clicks: The click is an elusive success. What you need are recommenders, counselors and commentators.

10. Learning from ‘best practices’: Social media is changing rapidly and long learning curves do not lead to success. So, why not having a look at what others do?

By MediaBUZZ