Whether your business is just getting its social sea legs or already flying high in the digital world, there is a niche and opportunity for every brand on social media.
(this isn’t my picture so if its yours just let me know and I’ll take it down)
I have worked with many different businesses and brands from getting them started in social media or helping them recreate and tailor an improved strategy for a better ROI through their social media efforts. I have a true passion and social intelligence for all things social which I have successfully passed onto to many of my clients to get them to where they want. I ensure all of your social channels are leveraged and optimised to support traditional and digital solutions and more importantly there is company-wide buy in and understanding on what social can do for you.
Setting goals and making plans ahead of time is an important factor and can be the make or break of your success in the social sphere. Brands just starting out on social media should focus on acquisition and getting to know and be a part of communities that matter to them and want to be a part of. More savvy brands should look for engagement, awareness and advocacy.
Everyone should be listening, no matter what stage you are at.
I have put together 10 top tips to get you started or help kick start your social strategy:
1. Don’t be selfish or shy
If you’re planning a social campaign that’s not engaging, asking questions, finding out about your audience and communities, sharing useful content and information then what is the point in taking part?
Ensure you connect with the rest of your communications, marketing and media plans and it is all integrated. Traditional and digital media need to support an integrated campaign that has social media at its core.
2. Don’t be frightened. Social doesn’t bite!
Still so many brands are avoiding social media as they still don’t quite understand its capabilities and how it fits into their overall strategy. Brands need to be a part of it in order to connect to their audiences. Social gives brands more opportunity to connect with audiences they may have previously not had the chance to connect with, on the other side of the world. There is nothing more valuable than word of mouth and that is just ‘one’ of the many benefits of social. Show your audiences and customers what you can offer, what you are like and more importantly show off your happy customers.
3. Monitor, measure, adapt.
Social allows you to find out what is going on in the world, what people are saying about competitors, your industry and more importantly you. So make sure you monitor this. Measure it and if needed adapt your messages. More data is available than ever through social and the opportunity now is to connect through two-way communications with your customers across all media’s, and time your messages according to whom you are connecting to and where.
Your content should be your advertising. Is it strong enough to break through all the noise?
4. Listen
Social listening can and should impact planning, execution, optimization and results measurement. Automated tools and reliance upon technology is not enough.
True value from listening will come from your social champions or the one person who is managing all your channels. Ensure they have prioritized what you are listening for, how you are going to capture it and how you are going to share the results.
5. A picture says a thousand words…
Marketing is going visual and you need to do the same. Embed text and brand or product info in relevant graphics to post. Pictures are also the mostly widely used and shared method of posting on Facebook. When people share your images you want them to see your website link or other relevant info.
6. Borrow with pride
Why reinvent the wheel. Look to other successful campaigns and find out what and how they went about it. Adapt it to suit and fit around your brand and messages and borrow with pride. You know it works, so make it work for you.
7. Not another one?
There are so many social platforms to choose one, how do you really know which ones to be a part of and which ones to leave out? The answer is you won’t until you try. There are also some core staple platforms that you should try and be a part of because they offer more than you might thing. Google+ is an example of this. Google+ will be more important to your business and by being on Google+, you will be able to take full advantage of Google’s many services and tools. It hasn’t the social power of some of the other sites but it is a central part of Google and you should be a part of it.
8. Less is more
Nuances exist everywhere, so if you don’t understand how one of your platforms works and how your customers interact there, make sure you ask someone who does.
Also concentrating your marketing efforts to a few social platforms is more effective than spreading yourself too thin over many of the social sites. The time it takes to successfully participate in social media is substantial so you need to build a strong presence on the sites that deliver rather than trying to dominate them all. Some are audience targeted so use the ones that are tailored towards your audience.
9. Think about the future
Quick hits are good, but meaningful experiences drive long-term relationships and build advocacy for your brand. You need to have a guiding principle and long term goal that governs your efforts.
10. Make it relevant
When people first started using the social sites they were posting things like “just having a cup of tea at my desk” Times have changed, people do not want or need to know this. This will also add no benefits to your social activity. You need to post relevant information to your audience. Make it about your readers and followers, not ‘all’ about you. Post solutions, inspiration, and interesting facts that can be useful and helpful.
Consider the consumer’s minds, brand health, net promoter score and measurements when generating content.
What is the best social media advice you have ever been given? Share your comments here.
Related articles
- The Most Basic Tips for Using Social Media Sites: (red-brand-media.com)
- Time To Reconsider How You Use Social Media (ministryofsearch.co.uk)
- 19 Things Successful People Do On Social Media (forbes.com)
- Social Media Can Keep Seniors In Touch With Friends And Family (lifefoneblog.com)
Sarah Willis 