At this point, social media is probably the most important channel for businesses to promote their work and reach out to customers and clients. Social media platforms are also pretty useful in helping PR departments understand clients and their online behavior.
When every business is aware of this, social media campaigns need to be better organized and prepared and they need to use all the potential that a company has to offer. For this to be accomplished, businesses need to know both their audiences and competitors.
Be Consistent
Social media provides a platform for the company to be creative and correspond with the users on a personal and engaging level. However, this doesn’t mean that there are no rules and no decorum that needs to be followed online. It’s imperative for social media outputs to be consistent in style and form.
One part of this is having a clear posting schedule, but that isn’t enough. There should also be a theme and an underlying philosophy behind your social media efforts. This may seem abstract but it will most surely get noticed by the readers.
Beyond Promoting
Social media shouldn’t be used only to promote yourself. Informing the customers is important and if there are sales and special promotions, you should announce them on social media. Social media campaigns need to go beyond that, in order to stay engaging and interesting.
For actual actionable information, you should focus on other channels, such as mobile apps or e-mail blasts. Social media should be used to create a narrative and present your brand in a new and compelling light. This is a fine line to walk and that’s where the creativity of your team should really shine.
Be Mindful of Others’ Work
Social media is a community and it should be used as such. It’s wrong to write and post only about issues related to your company. There’s a sense of zeitgeist on social media, and it often happens that at one point, all posts are about an engaging topic. This is something to be mindful of and to act upon, but you mustn’t be blatant about using popular themes to promote yourself.
It’s also useful to share the work of your competitors and influencers from your industry. That way, your business appears to be gracious and belong to the wider community of your industry.
Harvest the Data
Using social media also allows you get a better understanding of how your marketing campaign is being perceived by those that it’s targeting. It’s essential to rely on social media monitoring in order to change and adapt your social media campaign based on the results.
You should also analyze campaigns organized by your competitors. This may seem like going overboard but the competition is quite strong in almost every industry and small businesses need to fight for every customer and client.
Interaction
It isn’t enough to post compelling content and wait for the customers to find it. The best way to stay on the minds of your readers and followers is to interact with them on day-to-day bases. Social media allows for this to be done effortlessly and with a sense of humor.
That also means that your social media profiles can be used as customer support. Have in mind that this is a different service than advertising and that you need experts that can do both in order to use social media efficiently in this way.
Try Different Social Media Platforms
One of the hardest choices to make is what social media platform to use. There’s no clear answer to this question that can be applied to all businesses, because it very much depends on how you plan to use the network. Regardless of the choice, you need to try to expand on a variety of platforms in order to reach as wide audience as you possibly can.
It’s wrong to use all social media platforms in the same way. In order to achieve the most with every network, you should adapt your message based on the unique qualities of every platform.
Automation
Automation is the latest technology that has got everyone scared, because it threatens to replace human work in almost all industries, including marketing. There are reasons to be worried or at least interested in these changes, but there’s nothing wrong with using the latest technologies to their fullest extent. That is something that sets businesses apart from the competitors and cuts costs.
Have in mind that changes in this regard won’t be able to replace the need for talented writers and content creators because advertising still depends primarily on their work.
Social media provide an opportunity for businesses to connect with their customers on a more personal and engaging level. It’s important to embrace the development in technology that make this possible, but not forget that in the end social media marketing is about forming relationships and building communities.
Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls and a passionate blogger. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.
