Today, most business owners are aware of social media and the majority see that there is a potential market out there just waiting to be discovered through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. I speak regularly to business owners who are already active on a variety of social media channels but most of them report that they have had little or no success through social media. One of the reasons for this is that they do not have a content management strategy in place.
1. Set Goals For Your Campaign
This might seem obvious but you would be surprised how many companies do not think about this when they first dip their toe into the social media pool. You need to have clear objectives that can be measured so that you can assess the success of your campaign.
Some possible objectives are:
– Increase traffic to our website
– Increase sales
– Increase brand awareness
Include a timeframe so that you have a start and end date for your campaign.
2. Beef Up Your Own Content
What material of your own will you be using to achieve your goals? This could include special offers, digitised posters, blog posts and newsletters. Make sure that you present your story in a compelling way. If you have a number of facts that you want to share look at creating an infographic that will make your content not only more interesting but also more engaging.
3. Choose Which Social Networks to Use
This is often key to your success, don’t simply say that you will use Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, unless you know that those are the social networks where your target audience is. Every social network has its own netiquette. You will not see many photos of what people had for lunch on Linked In, equally if you are looking to target HR managers who work within a specific vertical you would be better using Linked In than Facebook.
4. Decide on the Frequency of Your Posts
How often you post material is also key to social media success. Too little and people will forget all about you, too often and you will irritate users. Again the communities of different social networks will stand differing volumes of posts. If you are using Facebook then try not to post more than three times a day. While on Twitter you can easily post 10 tweets a day without causing much offence. Plan your key posts in advance and set aside a certain amount of time each day to monitor social media.
5. Tailor Your Message To Your Audience
If you are using two or more social networks to convey your message then ensure that you tailor your message to your audience. Forget using a tool that allows you to send out the same message to multiple networks at the same time. When users see that a post originated on a different social network it tends to give the impression that the poster is not interested in that network. Each network has its own capabilities and limitations. There is little to be gained out of editing a Facebook post until it is less than 140 characters so that it will also display in full on Twitter. You are missing out on a huge opportunity to convey more information on Facebook. In the time it took you to create the “one post fits all” status you could have created posts that are more suitable for each network that are likely to engender more engagement.
6. Decide on Taboo Subjects
Before you post anything decide if there are any subjects that are not to be discussed and ensure that all members of the team are aware of them.
7. Decide on how to Handle Conflict
Most companies will, at some point, receive some negative feedback via social media. Make sure you have a strategy in place on how to handle to handle potential conflict. This can be something as simple as asking the person to email the office with their issues so that the discussion can be conducted in private. Never get into an argument online, you will not win, you will only lower the opinion that third parties to the issue have about you. Being seen to handle a negative situation in a professional manner will help others to see that you are an organisation that they want to be associated with.
8. Do Not Simply Broadcast Your Message
There’s a reason that it is called social media, it’s all about being social. Don’t just stand in a corner barking out your message, mingle with people, get to know them, build relationships. You will only do this by engaging with people.
9. Provide Content From Others
There is nothing wrong with linking to the content of others as long as you do it in moderation. If you really want to succeed you will need good original content of your own but remember this is social media. People are generally using it during their leisure time and your constant stream of sales messages will be as irritating as cold calls. You need variety in your content. Decide on what is and is not suitable for your audience and then go and look for it. You can use Google Alerts to allow you to receive an email with the latest pages that Google has indexed relating to a particular topic. Build up a list of websites that provide useful content so that you can check them regularly.
10. Measure Your Success
Take the metrics that you decided upon in tip one and evaluate how your campaign is performing on a regular basis. Facebook Insights lead the way in providing you with large quantities of data on how your account is performing. Look for patterns in your data, if you suddenly gained a lot of new likes or followers on a particular day look at the content that you posted that day. Find what works and equally learn what does not work for you.
These 10 tips will help you to better formulate a winning social media strategy.