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The most effective social media marketers understand that social media is a critical component of any marketing strategy. They also understand that the world of social media is rapidly changing and will continue to do so as long as it’s around - which is going to be a while.
While social media used to mean Facebook and LinkedIn, it soon also grew to include Twitter and Google+. And now, the options continue to grow with Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Dribbble, Periscope, YouTube, Vine, Meerkat, Blab, Snapchat each taking their place in social media marketplace. What’s more, new platforms are added faster than any marketer could hope to keep up.
The result? A lot of overwhelmed marketers who don’t feel they’re being as effective as they should be when it comes to their social media strategies. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, while 93% of B2B content marketers engage in social media marketing, only 38% of them rate their social efforts as effective (Content Marketing Institute, 2014).
What’s a marketer to do?
First and foremost, focus. It’s not practical to think that you can - or even should - have a presence on every new social media platform that pops up. You must choose which platforms are best for your business. But how?
Here are four steps every marketer should take to evaluate social platforms and determine whether or not they’re right for you company.
Step 1: Know Your Business Goals
Regardless of what kind of business you are, you probably know the importance of beginning with a clear understanding of your business goals before you dive into any strategy, right?. Your social media strategy is no exception.
It’s vital that your social media strategy aligns with and works toward meeting your business goals and objectives. After all, what good are “Likes” on Facebook if they don’t contribute to your company’s bottom line?
Once you have clearly defined business goals, ask yourself which social platform will be most effective in helping you to reach them. As an article in Entrepreneur suggests, “Focus on only one or two of the sites you determine match your needs and really make them work” (Sharp, 2009).
So as an example, if your business goal is growing your subscription list so that you have a community of individuals to market to on a more personal level, Facebook would be a great option because people can opt-in right from the platform. In contrast, many other platforms do not offer this functionality so while they might deliver retweets, upvotes or comments, they won’t directly help you meet your business goal of growing your subscriber list like Facebook can.
Step 2: Know Yourself
Next, take a little time to reflect on your business. Take a good look at who you are as a business and as a brand and what resources you have to leverage in your social media efforts.
For example, here are some questions you might ask:
- Is your business B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer)?
- Does your company produce a lot of content?
- What types of content do you produce? Text, video, photography, etc?
- Would images of your products or services be popular on social media?
- Does your company have a lot of direct communication with customers?
- How much can your business put toward its social strategy? How many staff members, hours, and dollars can you put toward social marketing?
All of these questions help determine which social media platforms will be most effective for your business, as well as how many platforms you should commit to and how you should approach them to achieve the greatest levels of success.
For example, if your company has never made a video before, it’s probably pretty clear that launching a social strategy with video-based platforms like Vine or YouTube wouldn’t be the best idea. Likewise, because LinkedIn is more of a B2B platform, if your company sells heavily discounted designer clothes, LinkedIn might not be the most fruitful option for you.
Step 3: Know Your Community
It’s helpful to keep up with what your industry peers are doing. Where are your competitors finding success on social media? Where do your customers seem to be most active?
This doesn’t automatically mean that because your competitors are active on Instagram that you should be, too. Just like the fact that they are cutting half their sales force or opening an office in London doesn’t mean you should automatically follow suit. It is simply good to know where your competitors are finding success so you can dig a little deeper and begin to understand how and why this is the case.
(Content Marketing Institute, 2014)
Step 4: Consider the Content and the Desired Conversation
It’s not enough to simply post content. Regardless of whether your content consists of eBooks, videos, memes, white papers, images, infographics or simply really great social commentary, if you want to drive real success, that content must also be part of a bigger conversation.
As an article in Social Media Today put it, “Content without conversation is just broadcasting, or just advertising. It goes to the listener/reader/viewer/visitor… and stops there. If the sender is lucky, it may lodge as a piece of information in the receiver’s consciousness, and they may act on it someday. If the sender is luckier, or perhaps more engaging, it may be something that the receiver wants to talk about. And then the message gets a whole new burst of energy. The energy behind the message is what gives it meaning, and a life of its own” (Novak, 2010).
You see, the conversation you hope to begin with your content should be a part of your social strategy, as well. Do you want that conversation to be between you and your customers or among consumers? Do you hope the conversation is about the content, the greater topic at hand or your specific brand? Would conversations you begin be light and humorous, serious and driven, perhaps even controversial? Do you want your conversations to be accessible long after they’ve ended or is it preferable that they exist only in real time?
Taking these thoughts into consideration is important because every social platform will open a different dialogue. Different conversations are started on each platform because of the people who spend time there, the way content is presented and the ability people have to express themselves.
So, for example, if you hope to start lengthy conversations where people share testimonials about your product and engage with you in meaningful ways and you hope that these interactions will be accessible to other potential customers weeks, months, even years later, then Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat probably aren’t your best bet. In contrast, YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn might be a better fit.
Regardless of what platforms you choose to leverage, be sure you have the bandwidth to commit to them in a way that will not only reach your target audience, but also engage them and inspire them to take action that will help you reach your business goals.
Resources
Sharp, J. (December 21, 2009). “Focus Your Social Media Strategy”. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/204466
Content Marketing Institute. (2014). “B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends 2014”. Content Marketing Institute. Retrieved from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/B2B_Research_2014_CMI.pdf
Lake, C. (October 30, 2009). “35 social media kpis to help measure engagement”. Econsultancy Blog. Retrieved from http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/4887-35-social-media-kpis-to-help-measure-engagement
Novak, C. (July 27, 2010). “Why conversation, not content, is king”. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king
Reed College of Media. (2015) “Week 3 Lesson: Social Media Analytics & Advertising Channels”. West Virginia University. Retrieved from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_51583_1&content_id=_2558935_1&framesetWrapped=true
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