Even as more and more companies hire Community Managers to give them a social media presence, the general attitude towards social media is, "Everyone's doing it, so we need to do it too." If this is where you're coming from, you're most likely to cover the tactics with little strategy and mixed results. A better way to go about it is to follow these Top Three ways to build a kick ass social media marketing presence.
1. Have a strategy.
Having a Twitter account and a Facebook page does not a social media strategy make. The first question is not, "What are you doing online?" The first question is "What do you need to see in three years to know that your business is succeeding?"
Once you know the answer to this question you can look at the numerous tools and tactics available through social media to create a strategy. This strategy needs to be based on your business goals and ideally will integrate your social media marketing actions with every department of your company.
If a social media expert acts like a hammer looking for a nail and talks about what social media will do for you without first asking you about your business, RUN. I'm amazed at the number of social media firms that don't practice offline what they preach about online. Listening isn't just a tactic, it's a way of operating that makes every person and every business better.
2. Define and express your brand personality. If you don't know what your brand stands for, no amount of social media marketing will help you. Write down the three words that you feel best describe your company. Then ask your partners, employees and customers to tell you three words they think of when they think about your company.
Chances are that they will tell you something different. If so, then it's time to do further research on what your customers most want. Then make sure your brand offers what they want. This is much more important than what you think they want or what you think you should give them. Listen to them and then deliver what they ask for. It's a simple concept that most companies ignore.
The message that most companies think they are sending is usually not the one that the public is receiving unless they have millions to spend on broadcasting the message incessantly. Volvo means safety, but what does your local ice cream store stand for?
Your brand personality is the foundation for your social media marketing actions and should be the foundation of how your company operates in every department. If your message is unknown or not consistently practiced daily by every employee then it is false and the public will figure it out faster than you can Google comments about your company.
This personality needs to affect what you tweet, who you follow, how you respond to people, what contests you do or don't run on your Facebook page, whether you make videos, if you ask fans and followers to make videos, what context you come from when you announce something, whether you have an online TV show, how you build relationships and alliances online, and much more.
3. Establish your social media presence with your goals and message in mind
Yes, I said presence, not campaign. You can't do this short term. Social media marketing is as essential to your business as customer service and good accounting practices. People live online now. If you aren't interacting with people where they hang out, you will be left out. No two ways about it.
Strategically decide if you want to be on Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, UStream or whichever social platforms you choose. Depending on your company size, your industry, your budget, where your target audience participates and lurks online, and other factors, you will have to prioritize your online activities.
Once you know where you want to be you can plan out when and how you will launch and develop your presence to meet your business goals. Have realistic goals with grounded plans of how to reach them and always be anchored to your core message.
I have had clients who pull numbers out of the air like expecting 10,000 Facebook fans in a month. Well, that's a nice goal in short time frame, so how do you expect to get there? What are you going to give people to make them care about you enough to "Like" your Facebook page? Why do you want 10,000 instead of 1,000? How will you entice them to come back again or to tell others about you? How does this number, or how you get to this numbe, represent and enhance your company goals? What demographics do you want to make up this 10,000 number? Do you realize that 100 rabid evangelists that love your company are worth more than 10,000 people who click "Like" and then don't pay any more attention to you?
Social media marketing, like all streams of marketing, is part art and part science. If you develop your brand and your communications in authentic ways with your goals and your customers in mind you'll be thrilled with the results. What other tips would you give companies just starting out on the social media marketing road? What tips can you add for companies maturing in this space who are looking to improve their results?
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