Social Media 101: Tips For Brands When Adopting A Social Media Strategy - Part 3
In the final part of my social media 101 series, I will offer four final points for brands to pursue when venturing towards the implementation of social network activity.
Recent trends have illustrated the importance of setting up such profiles, and that the value of developing conversations with consumers can be truly realised through social media.
The ability of social media to engage will continue to develop beyond the realms of traditional marketing as the capabilities of social networks continue to evolve.
Use a respectful tone - Brand posts must be eloquently written in a manner fans can understand, ensuring there are no spelling mistakes in posts and that they're written in an appropriate style.
If responding to posts from fans, brands should refrain from being disrespectful at all costs, no matter how the originating post was written.
The last thing that the brand wants to create is animosity, or to make a negative situation any worse.
One of the best ways of dealing with serious negativity is to have a defined escalation procedure in place, so that the experts in customer service can come in and ease any situations.
Give each consumer a reason to come back - Although it's important for fans to gain a good impression of a brand from their very first visit to its social media page, they should ensure that the profile has enough hooks to give consumers a reason to return.
The implementation of competitions and various forms of rich media for users to engage with could be a basis for securing interest, and publishing regular updates about such content will ensure that it isn't forgotten.
If any elements prove popular, serialising them into a regular feature will help maintain a strong following.
Give each consumer a reason to share -The brand should encourage users to share brand-related content with their friends and, more importantly, give them a reason to.
The most popular online content is that which makes people want to share it across their extended networks.
A good way of pushing consumers towards sharing, if an organic approach isn't working, is to offer them an incentive.
This could be in the form of giveaways, access to exclusive content or even just a slice of fame with a mention to all of your other fans.
Monitor what fans are saying - It is imperative that brands monitor what fans are saying about them, and observe the amounts of retweets a Twitter post gets or the number of comments left to a video or post.
The people posting on these sites are the fans or users of the brand, the ones who buy the products on offer, and so it is of great importance that the brand listens to each one and takes each perspective into account.
Social media is a huge opportunity for brands to crowdsource feedback and, as such, the potential for idea development is endless.
These guidelines, coupled with those from my previous articles, are just a few of the steps a brand can take to create a successful social media presence.
The most influential and engaging brand campaigns come from the utilization of many of these points, and a brand which chooses to adhere to them is likely to find greater success than those that attempt to enter the fray without prior consideration about which tactics to implement.
Although following these points alone can't guarantee social media success, they're certainly likely to assist a brand in creating a strong basis from which to work from when looking to target fans online.
Recent trends have illustrated the importance of setting up such profiles, and that the value of developing conversations with consumers can be truly realised through social media.
The ability of social media to engage will continue to develop beyond the realms of traditional marketing as the capabilities of social networks continue to evolve.
Use a respectful tone - Brand posts must be eloquently written in a manner fans can understand, ensuring there are no spelling mistakes in posts and that they're written in an appropriate style.
If responding to posts from fans, brands should refrain from being disrespectful at all costs, no matter how the originating post was written.
The last thing that the brand wants to create is animosity, or to make a negative situation any worse.
One of the best ways of dealing with serious negativity is to have a defined escalation procedure in place, so that the experts in customer service can come in and ease any situations.
Give each consumer a reason to come back - Although it's important for fans to gain a good impression of a brand from their very first visit to its social media page, they should ensure that the profile has enough hooks to give consumers a reason to return.
The implementation of competitions and various forms of rich media for users to engage with could be a basis for securing interest, and publishing regular updates about such content will ensure that it isn't forgotten.
If any elements prove popular, serialising them into a regular feature will help maintain a strong following.
Give each consumer a reason to share -The brand should encourage users to share brand-related content with their friends and, more importantly, give them a reason to.
The most popular online content is that which makes people want to share it across their extended networks.
A good way of pushing consumers towards sharing, if an organic approach isn't working, is to offer them an incentive.
This could be in the form of giveaways, access to exclusive content or even just a slice of fame with a mention to all of your other fans.
Monitor what fans are saying - It is imperative that brands monitor what fans are saying about them, and observe the amounts of retweets a Twitter post gets or the number of comments left to a video or post.
The people posting on these sites are the fans or users of the brand, the ones who buy the products on offer, and so it is of great importance that the brand listens to each one and takes each perspective into account.
Social media is a huge opportunity for brands to crowdsource feedback and, as such, the potential for idea development is endless.
These guidelines, coupled with those from my previous articles, are just a few of the steps a brand can take to create a successful social media presence.
The most influential and engaging brand campaigns come from the utilization of many of these points, and a brand which chooses to adhere to them is likely to find greater success than those that attempt to enter the fray without prior consideration about which tactics to implement.
Although following these points alone can't guarantee social media success, they're certainly likely to assist a brand in creating a strong basis from which to work from when looking to target fans online.