Sometimes, the process of clumsily promoting your business through social media is referred to pejoratively as “interruption marketing” – butting in on whatever a user is doing, or intending to do, and asking them to  pay attention to your message instead. The extent to which this “interruption” label is fair or correct continues to be debated. However, it seems hard to refute that at least some gentle redirection of a customer’s attention plays some part in business promotional activities.

However, the ways in which content providers attract the attention of readers can make all the difference. The key, surely, is to do so in ways that genuinely help customers.

One way of doing this is to become a source of hot news and information within your particular industry. Consider, for example, the Twitter feed from the Adobe education team. Promotional tweets are inevitably posted, highlighting the customer benefits. For example, a recent tweet touted a saving of 65% on Creative Cloud for students and teachers. The feed also constructively looks beyond just the Adobe project range to the wider industry.

Another way your business could help out your target audience is to appeal to those with a professional interest in your area, through regular posts to LinkedIn. Providing news about companies looking to hire could be of value to job seekers, for instance.

Finally, there’s a lot to be gained from bringing a smile to readers’ faces. If your company can link to – or better still, create – video which has viral potential, then this is a great way to raise the profile of your business in an unimposing, truly entertaining manner. Look no further than the T-Mobile flash-mob advertising campaign for an example of the remarkable impact of well thought out viral videos.

Steven Morris