A survey conducted by the marketing firm Digital Brand Expressions found that 78% of client companies responding to their survey said they use Social Media, but only 41% said they have a strategic plan in place to direct their social media efforts. That means that almost 60% of the companies which are using Social Media, have no plan! So for all you companies out there here are a few tips how to build your Social Media strategy.
- Define your Objectives
Before using Social Media for your organization it’s important that you define your Business Objectives. E.g. increased traffic, leads, followers, sales, brand awareness. - Decide on your Target Audience
Once you have decided on your main target audience, next on your list should be research. Where is your audience online? Make sure you understand your audience. Listen to them and their conversations. Monitor blogs, news sites, forums.. - Choose your Social Media channels wisely
Depending on your business and your preferred target audience, it’s crucial to decide whether you’re looking for a content rich presence with limited user interaction (like running a blog) or whether it is more suitable to go with channels like Twitter or Facebook. Personally I would always recommend a company blog. It is the perfect ‘greaser’ for your Social Media Strategy, whilst Social Media can be perceived as Spam, a blog never is. - Make a Social Media Policy
Working with social media, you need to make sure that the employees involved in your online presence know what to do. What are your company’s guidelines for social media? What can be said, and what should not be shared with the public? I cannot stress the importance of a policy enough! This needs to be in place upfront in order to avoid any unfortunate incidents. - Assign roles & responsibilities
To make it as simple and manageable as possible to maintain your brand’s social media presence, it is wise to add in your strategy who does what and how often. Intially it takes a lot of time to set everything up, after that it is maintaining your Social Media presence. With regard to time management it could also come in handy to make some sort of a schedule with a continuous flow of content, it can be of great help to plan a supply of information that goes beyond promotion. - Engage!
Start the conversation. Ask your audience what they think of your event/page, or ask them how you can improve. Ask them to take action, people are always interested in sharing content and their experience. Always respond, even if it is negative feedback, this provides a great opportunity to open up the conversation and show that you are listening. Keeping up the conversation is a solid way to show your customers that you appreciate them and value their opinions. - Promote your presence
Like any other business initiative, you must let your audience know about your social media presence. Use your existing communication channels to promote your presence on your website, in your e-mail signature, newsletters etc. - Listen and Measure your succes
Measuring the effectiveness of your Social media activities is imperative to any strategy. Measuring Social Media is challenging but not impossible. There are lots of tools out there for Social Media measurement. Read my other blog post ‘Measuring your online influence’, if you are looking for a tool to help you in your measuring efforts, there are several to choose from.
