Archive for category: Social Media

Setup blog, check. Setup Facebook account, check. Listening Posts, check.

You’ve done it all but nothings working the way the social media evangelists promised. Why do some social media marketing plans fail while others flourish?

Things have changed…but they’re still the same

In my opinion one of the biggest mistakes that many companies make when approaching social media is seeing it as something completely new  and entirely different when, in fact, it’s a communications, marketing and sales tool that can work well with what’s already in your arsenal. Granted, a lot has changed over the last 15 years but many fundamentals still hold true – develop your overall strategy to include social media, but don’t think that you have to start from square one.

It’s all in the planning

To make social media thrive, you need to decide from the start what you want to get out of it, how success will be defined, and the resources and people who will be committed to making it happen each and every day. This can help establish a solid foundation for implementing tactical plans to work with your company’s other communications, marketing and sales efforts.

You MUST have a Facebook account..?

I see this all the time – arbitrary picking new tools for the sake of using new tools.   Don’t focus on whatever the newest fad is, focus on what’s right for your strategy. You need to ask, what will help build and maintain customer relationships? Where are they communicating and how does your brand fit into that? It may well be that that may involve setting up a Facebook profile, but make sure you have a well researched strategy that covers other touch points.

One way street

Ever been to a blog that’s just one long sales pitch? It’s not cool. You need to think carefully about your content and the interactions you have. Interactions is the key word here. Social Media allows for a conversation to take place, not just one way advertising spiel. For example, one thing people often neglect to do when running blogs is to respond to comments.  The point of opening a blog is to open a channel for conversation with your target market, not to preach….they can go to your website for that.

Listen!

You need to keep your ears open and monitor what’s being said.  When know what people are saying  about you you get a general idea of how people would react to what you might say or do as a business. You might also get ideas on what you can do to attract more customers to your cause.

These are only a few pointers… If you can add more to this list, please do in the comments section!