And with good reason, without strategy a marketing, branding or social media campaign would be a very good and creative idea, but the strategy makes it relevant. Without strategy, the campaign is simply a bunch of pictures, words and film put together creatively to stimulate...nothing really from your target audience. And without strategy, marketing firms would not be the business that they are, but a hobby and a place where creatives congregate to indulge in the artistic pleasures. A business looking to use social media as a marketing tool, should have a strategy that will take the brand further and attract more people to follow it.
There are essential steps or elements that one should follow to ensure social media success. And from this be able to formulate your social media strategy to enhance your brand and attract your audience, whoever they may be. Social media is not solely a platform to attract an audience, but to generate revenue, attract investors (should it be your inclination) and market your products and services. The following are just some elements that will help you have an effective social media strategy.
1. Start with an end in mind - a great habit to have from a very inspiring person Stephen Covey. I find this very important in starting any new project. When you start thinking where you want to be and who your social media campaign is attracting and what contribution you want to make to the audience you have attracted. Once you have thought about this, you are able to work backwards and be able to plan, step-by-step on how you are going to achieve your goal.
2. Have a schedule and follow it religiously- Planning is one of the things that makes anybody or a business succeed. Good planners will achieve considerably okay results, but great planners with achieve remarkable results and no planning will not be able to achieve any results. A schedule helps you to stay focused and allows you to do the research well in advance and you are able to deliver quality articles, ebooks or whitepapers to your audience. And believe me, you might not get any responses, but it is definitely appreciated. You can also give your audience a teaser of upcoming articles in the week or bi-weekly or even monthly. Most clients ask me, how often do they post articles or interactions on their social media feed. I always tell them, it is up to you, you decide, but once you have decided, follow it and condition your audience.
3. Short-term Goals- There are a lot of goal setting workshops that one can attend, and the same principles you have learned there, you can apply with your social media strategy. These goals will actually lead your audience to understand the uniqueness of your brand or business. Have short-term goals that will have long term effects and you do this by educating your audience rather than selling to them in your social media campaign. People will forget a sales pitch the minute they're finished reading it, but an informative article goes a long way.
4. Consider the tools- Any professional is as good as their tools, and this is relevant to the social media landscape. There are tools that I listed in the article last week Monday that are excellent to enhance your social media campaign and they actually assist in attracting more audience and it is up to your marketer how they strategize to ensure that the audience on the social media feed, find their way to the relevant offering on your website.
5. Assess your audience- Take time to read the profiles of your followers and study them, follow links of their tweets and read the articles they post. There is a reason why they are following you, and don't be afraid to ask them questions. Ask them how you can be of value to them, do it by sending them direct messages, inboxing them on Facebook and doing online surveys. They will appreciate the effort you are making to please their social interaction need.
6. Be a Socialite - Be easy-going, relax. Social media is about socializing. Comment on pictures that your audience post. Post jokes especially about the industry you are in and I can assure you it will be well received. Be careful not to over do it, remember your objective is to provide content that is informative and beneficial to your audience, not to "entertain" them. If you are going to joke, keep it simple and non-offensive.
7. Assess the impact - There are tools that can assist in showing the impact of your campaign. Measuring your success with accurate data is something marketers were only able to enjoy in the past couple of years. It never used to be like this, and the marketers strategy is getting easier to measure. And you should be able to measure your social media campaign with tools like HowSociable, which I also wrote about last week Monday. Learn to check your impact metrics on a daily basis and you will be able to know the kind of audience you have and how to please them.
Social media can be a success quickly when done right. One thing to remember is that when you start your social media campaign, be prepared to learn and tweek your campaign to suit your audience. And the trick is to run with patience, when you do it right, the numbers will come, and if you follow the 7 steps above, you will be able to keep your audience glued to your social media campaigns, and most importantly you will continue to generate revenue for your business.
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