2. What is “Social Media?”
Wikipedia: web-based and mobile technologies used to
turn communication into interactive dialogue between
organizations, communities, and individuals.
Webster: forms of electronic communication (as Web
sites for social networking and microblogging) through
which users create online communities to share
information, ideas, personal messages, and other
content (as videos)
3.
4. The World’s Water Cooler
Successful social media practice is about
more than simply sharing information, photos,
status updates and news.
It’s about joining a conversation.
11. The Elements
integrated messaging
Paid:
• Ads
Owned: Earned:
• Website • Publicity
• Social Networking
• Word of
• Newsletters
• Video/Photo sharing
mouth
• Third party
shares
12. The Elements
brand voice
Persona
Tone
Purpose
Language
Not…
14. The Elements
a crisis plan
Prepare Listen Respond
• Create a council • Consistently • Follow the root of the
• Compose general crisis
• Even on weekends
responses • Respond directly
• Establish guidelines • Make a public formal
statement
• Avoid avoiding
• Be accountable
23. The Elements
content, content, content.
77% of social 17% say they interact
consumers say they with brands by sharing
interact with brands experiences and news with
primarily through reading their friends about the
tweets, pins, posts and brand
updates
93% say they will share
or retweet “interesting
content”
26. Key Takeaways
• Define success at the onset
• Listen & Leverage
• Assess the pros and cons of potential tools
• Remain consistent: with messaging and
execution
• Keep it real
• Content is king
• Analyze, report, adjust - often
An effective strategy should have purpose, promote continuity, hold everybody accountable, showcase authenticity and amplify your message.
Like any marketing tactic, goals of social media and a clear definition of success should be established before any activity begins. By doing so, you can ensure that strategies proposed will align with the overall vision of the brand. As a marketer, you must work with your team or your client to make educated suggestions about the definition of social media success at the onset of the campaign.
There are a ridiculous amount of social media platforms out there today. That’s yet another prime reason for needing a strategy. Think of social media as a toolbox. Each individual tool, when sitting idly in a toolbox, is useless. But when you pick them up and use them for a specific reason, they can build a masterpiece. You have a lot of at your disposal, but you don’t need a hacksaw to hammer a nail. Once your strategic and measurable goals are clearly defined, it’s then time to review your options and determine which platform will help you to reach those goals. Not every brand needs a Pinterest account or even has use for one. It’s an up and coming novelty with a lot of buzz, but remember, it skews heavily female and may not be a beneficial investment of time or resources for a company that manufactures engineered plumbing products. LinkedIn is an outstanding B2B tool for identifying and communicating with leads for non-retail companies.A blog is an powerful tool for inbound marketing if you have the time to dedicate to the composition and proper promotion.
In today’s society, paid, earned, and owned media work hand-in-hand to support, create and enhance each other while projecting your message on a grander level than any could do alone. By developing key messaging at the onset, you will continue to portray a consistent brand to your fans from every angle. The look and feel of your Facebook timeline should follow brand standards – if you have them. The logo on your twitter page should be exactly the same as the logo on your ad. Your overarching messaging should mirror that of your most recent press release. Gasp! This means that the creatives, PR folks and Social Media gurus may actually have to sit down and talk… THE HORROR!
Do exhibit continuity from within, you should identify and share your brand’s social media voice with your marketing team. This ensures that tweets, status updates and blog posts won’t sound like Kevin one day and Kristin another. It will sound like Chemistry. Finding the right voice starts with defining your audience. Your brand’s audience looks to it for something specific. A Tuesday family dinner. AthleticPerformance enhancement. Small business success tips. A delicious cupcake. The social media voice should reflect and project that image, as well as identify and engage with other thought leaders in the field. Developing a voice document is very simple. Simply break it down into four categories and a fifth “anti-category” – what your voice should NOT be.Always remember to remain transparent when sharing information to develop a level of trust with your audience.
Your strategy will also hold you and your team accountable by developing a schedule and deadlines so it becomes less of a haphazard free for all and more of a focused, organized campaign. Create a social media calendar for your blog, :Annual, Quarterly and/or Seasonal:Start by thinking of “big picture” umbrella events and messaging:What events are taking place six months to a year out that inform your marketing efforts?What are touchstone issues for your company that can inform messaging that expresses your company’s values?MonthlyConcentrate on you want to achieve each month, including date-specific events that you can use to anchor your messages:What are you promoting?What actions do you want your audience to take (particularly ones that are measurable)?What’s happening with your company this month?DailyHere are some ancillary ways to keep conversations moving and draw out the lurkers in your social networking communities:What are you reading? What are you thinking about? What are you doing?What do you want to know about your audience (i.e what questions you can ask them)?What’s happening with your company today?What’s happening in your industry today?What’s a hot, current or trending topic you can comment on?What are your friends, fans and followers saying that you can repeat?
Being prepared can go a long way because social media is public, and you don’t have total control. The best thing to do is take the time to establish a crisis plan. Create a council and form a chain of command – interns, CEOs, Communications Directors, but remember, you’ve got minutes, not hours or days to formulate a responseCompose general or “canned” responses to serve as templates for small issues such as customer complaints “I’m sorry this happened, please reach out to customer service and we’ll make it right!” or “Oh no! DM us so we can take care of that for you.”Establish guidelines based on your code of conduct on exactly how to proceed in a “code red” situationListen consistently. Assign times to multiple team members or keep tweetdeck or hootsuite on a second monitor to respond when people post or tweet directly to you. Take the initiative to do a keyword search for your brand name on occasion to find those who are unhappy but did NOT reach out directly. DON”T FORGET ABOUT SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. If possible, immediately follow the root of the crisis (tweeter, FB page, YouTube user, etc.), then respond to that person or page directly whether it’s privately or publically. Use your best judgement.If the situation spins out of control or is a “code red” incident off the bat, don’t be afraid to carefully craft a formal public statement which you can share on any social network buzzing about the crisisAvoid avoiding at all cost. Vulgar posts can and should be removed (or avoided by changing settings), but a true crisis will not disappear if it is ignored.If the problem stemmed internally (a bad batch of cookies, poor customer service, a sewage leak…) be accountable. Attempt to fix the problem and make it known that you’re doing so.
Chances are very good that somebody, somewhere, is already talking about you or your industry. A simple twitter or HootSuite search can show you who. There’s nothing more authentic than unsolicited, genuine promotion by your true fans and by ignoring it, you ignore your very best assetEngage by following and talking to that personIs it a blogger? Connect with them and ask them to become an ambassadorIs it a member of the media? Follow what they’re writing about and respond or RT when appropriate – I tend to avoid pitches via SM and keep it conversational to build a relationshipIs it a celebrity?Key point: never ignore the folks who are already in your corner. They are your greatest assets.
The proper strategy can give your brand the opportunity to connect on a far more personal level than any other medium. Social media is a means of humanization. It presents a formerly unavailable opportunity to talk WITH your audience instead of just AT them. Be human when tweeting, posting, pinning and conversing. Not stuffy and advertorial jargon and canned sound bites. But there is a strategy within a strategy when it comes to developing a true connection with your audience which can be defined by the rule of 33:33 % of your published content (youtube, pinterest, blog, social networking sites, all of it) can and should be promotional. It would be a little weird if it wasn’t, right? This includes internal activity, public activities, news, people, photos, videos anything.33 % of your published content should be educational – industry trends, interesting articles, partner news, facts, etc.33 % of your published content should be conversational – sharing other’s content, responding to questions/comments, listening for keywords and responding, commenting on other posts, asking questions, etc.By doing this, you maintain a proper balance. You’re not overly promotional or vague and you establish a position as a thought leader.
Public relations alone provides further credibility, but still maintains a sort of untouchable, one-way connection to the brand.
Social media allows the public to CONNECT with a brand in a give and take way. There are real, live people sharing information, commenting on posts, telling stories. We can ask them questions. They can answer us. It’s become a conversation. Social Media is a means of humanizing your brand in a way that no other public medium has been able to do in the past.
We’ve already assessed platforms and tools to ensure they align with the overall purpose of the campaign, but each platform has a number of different tactical options which can assist you in amplifying your message.When considering these tactics such as contest, iframes, apps, Facebook advertising, promoted tweets, etc. you must always consider your goals and your budget. Social media is affordable until it isn’t. Promoted tweets are great but are they affordable? Is a Facebook contest really the right way to secure sales leads?If your goal is to sample your product out to potential customers or simply to build your fan base, then a contest can be great – on Facebook, with bloggers, on twitter. Apps are outstanding tools to promote thought leadership or showcase your product or service.Facebook advertising is affordable and extremely controlled, but works best when there is a specific call to action involved.
The simple truth is and always will be, that the content you put forth is what will make or break you. Most social consumers don’t actively seek out your social pages, so it’s up to you to reach them. We’ve already discussed leveraging your assets, but when it comes to amplification content is always king if you want those assets to continue their ambassadorship and to garner new ones.Weave this into your initial strategy by doing upfront research on what search terms land people at your website and seasonal search trends. That will help to prepare you for the best blog posts, blogger outreach and scheduled tweets/posts/pins. When it comes to executing your campaign on the go, be sure to be up on industry and/or national news, include a call to action, post interesting content relevant to your brand and most of all ask yourself “would this interest me?”Images capture more attention. Ironically there are no photos on this page.
The beauty of social media is that a campaign can be easily adjusted to procure more desirable results. The only way to know if your campaign and online presence is performing as it should is to monitor. Social media monitoring tools
In all actuality, it’s a lot simpler than this 25 slide PowerPoint Presentation has really made it out to be. An effective social media strategy is really an ongoing 5-step processListen, outline goals and objectives, plan by determining which tools will best help you achieve your goals and developing content, engage your fans – existing and potential, measure the success against your goals, repeat.
Define success at the onset whether you work in corporate marketing, you’re running your own business or you work at an agency and are defining these goals with your clientAlways listen – before and during the launch of your campaign. Leverage those who are already talking about you and use what you hear to determine the best approach at connecting with those who don’t but should.Social media is an ever broadening hodgepodge of available resources. Asses everyone of them before feeling the need to dive in.Consistency with your overall brand messaging AND frequency of your communication will help your audience learn to trust you. Don’t be cookie cutter, but remain true to who you are. Don’t be a car salesman unless you’re actually a car salesman.Don’t post for the sake of posting. Post interesting, useful stuff. Don’t have any? Find it.Most importantly Keep track of how you’re doing. It’s not easy to pull exact statistics on impression numbers and determining value is like asking sasquatch to join you on your hunt for the loch ness monster. But by simply listening and comparing results to your defined goals you can at least get a better idea of how your online presence or campaign is doing. And there’s no harm in adjusting.
