subject: Building A Basic Social Media Strategy [print this page] When it's done well, social media can deliver a fantastic ROI for marketing, PR, customer service, and sales. However, social media is a relatively new tactic for most B2B companies, and this
'newness' can make it intimidating, even for the most seasoned marketers.
Whether you're new to social media or an expert who needs to brush up on the basics or explain them to someone else, Informous is here to help.
Below are some steps that we have used in building our social media strategy:
1. Set Goals. Before you start down the social media path, make sure you know why you're doing it. Do you want to generate leads? Stay up to date on industry trends? Build links and drive traffic to your website and blog? Build your brand? Stay in front of current and potential customers? The worst thing you can do is to not have any goal at all.
2. Follow through. Don't start a social media account - whether it's Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn - and then leave it hanging with no updates. This makes your company look irresponsible, or worse, lazy. You don't want your clients and customers to think you're not going to follow through in your relationship with them, so if you're not going to follow through on social media efforts, don't even start .
3. Allocate resources. If you don't have anyone in charge of your social media accounts, then they're going to be forgotten and make your company look bad (see point #2). Social media takes time to do well - a few hours a day for a small to mid-sized effort - so make sure that you allocate the appropriate number of hours to the job.
4. Select the right social media manager. Along with picking someone who has time to dedicate to social media, you have to pick someone who has the appropriate skills. We could devote an entire post to identifying the factors that go into making a good social media manager, but basically you want someone who knows your message well, is comfortable with technology, is supportive of others, and is a good writer. Of course, they should be trustworthy and consistent, after all, they now have your brand in their hands. Your intern might have 1,000 friends on Facebook, but if your company's social media 'voice' suddenly changes at the end of the semester, or is only present a couple hours a week, you're not going to get results.
5. Run a marathon, not a sprint. Don't think of social media as a marketing "campaign," because that implies a short term nature. Social media marketing takes a while to grow and deliver results. If you flood outlets like Twitter and Facebook right away, you're going to be perceived as spammy and annoying. So take your time, post consistently, and you'll start to see results. Plan for the long term.
6. Integrate. Social media does not work in a vacuum. Everything your company does should integrate your social media accounts, and vice versa. Send out an email newsletter? Include a link to your Facebook page. Get a new employee? Post about the addition on LinkedIn. Get a compliment on Twitter? Make sure your sales team gets a copy.
7. Engage. A common piece of social media advice is to "propose to your followers." Ask them questions. Get them engaged. Begin conversations. Give out praise. Promote your friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter, and connections on LinkedIn. You'll be amazed at how they will return the favor and promote you.
8. Measure. Remember those goals you set? Well, have you reached them? Measure your success. Find the performance metrics that work best for you, whether it's number of retweets, or visits to your website from Facebook. See what works, and do more of that!
Using these eight steps will help with any social media strategy. Be sure to experiment until you find what works best for your business. Comment and let us know what works for you, or if you have any advice to add!
