Social Media From Scratch
As I’m writing in this year 2020 you will no doubt have one or more social media accounts - whether you are regularly active on them is another question! If you’ve fallen out of love with ‘likes’ here’s a refresh on the why, what and how of basic social media.
A consistent and considered social presence is not only expected, part of your credibility and profiling, but an important connection with clients (current and potential) and a great way to work on your IP.
Why bother?
Your customers and peers are already on social media. So are your potential customers, suppliers, future employees, the media, movers and shakers in your industry, your community and beyond.
Social media is not the future, it is now and if you are not already ‘doing it’ it is noticeable by its absence. Of course, just because everyone else is doing it isn’t reason enough to create a social media (SoMe) strategy and profile. Social media is most effective as an integrated part of existing marketing activities. It enables you to create a community that reinforces your company’s values and facilitates two-way communication with existing as well as potential clients, stakeholders, suppliers, partners and staff, other industry figures and organisations. It is most valuable as a way of listening to your clients and then engaging with them. You can easily integrate social media with business goals and objectives and enhance your existing communications.
How?
The CARE model shapes SoMe strategy by making sure you talk to the right people, about the right things, on the right platforms at the right time:
The answers to these questions will help form the basis of your SoMe plan and provide direction in terms of the platforms you use and the content you share.
What next?
Your social media activity should reinforce your brand/organisation’s voice, the values which you work by and provide a platform for you to position your business for the future. Keep it real – be authentic by saying and sharing things you really believe in. Even better, use social media to listen to your customers as well as talk to them. Talking consistently about, and adding value to the debate around, a small number of issues means you are much more likely to have a more engaged audience.
Develop a content plan or calendar and identify a few industry issues that you can help with. A plan can be as simple as:
Setting up SoMe profiles, identifying the most relevant people to follow, creating lists and alerts for easy management of what’s being said in your field
How often will you post – two tweets per day, share two articles per week on Google+, blog once a month on website/LinkedIn or maybe invite a leading industry figure to ‘guest blog’ on your behalf
Who will be responsible for content – in conjunction with other marketing activity, rotating staff members or a dedicated resource/freelancer whose role it is to protect and enhance your social brand
Basic social media policy – how you will respond to comments (eg. a quick public response followed up by a private message), guidelines for staff such as identifying themselves in posts, basic copyright, etiquette (eg. avoid hard sales messages)
Set measurable goals – KPIs can include comparison of the frequency of tweets with follower growth, replies, mentions and retweets. Track what kind of content gets the most interaction with a simple spreadsheet.
Some content ideas:
Profile your people
Share events – yours and relevant others
Blog on an industry topic
Start a discussion – ask questions or offer scenarios
Host guest bloggers
Behind the scenes – unique insight into your company
Comment on other relevant blogs and link back to your blog.
Once you have an established following you can develop content to include:
Whitepapers
Ebooks
Presentations
Podcasts
Live streaming of network events
Webinars.
Give it time - you won’t build a following overnight, play the long game.