Social media has fast become an integral part of a brand’s communication to its customers. Those brands that are extremely successful often communicate more personably, building a brand reputation based on a more human level of engagement. However, there are many pitfalls when using social media and the idiosyncrasies of the different platforms have the potential to trip you up.
Here are 10 tips that should help companies fully realise the potential of social media communication:
Expand your base
Reach out to prominent social media figures and expand your connections. Re-tweets from Twitter notoriety will give your communication a lot more reach and impact. Tweeting directly to certain people will also see your communication taken up by their followers. It is important to keep your base relevant to your brand and product so remember this when expanding your network.
Target
It is important to target those that are talking about your brand. Find out where your audience are in the social media landscape. What is their platform of choice? How do they use it? Where are their conversations taking place and when are they most likely to take place?
Listen
Keep an eye out for discussions relevant to your brand. Listening and responding to your customers automatically makes them feel appreciated and part of your brand family. The quality of this kind of interaction cannot be underestimated and will really help to build your reputation on social media. Don’t be afraid to be creative with your responses, followers appreciate personality.
Levis Vine:
Be Visual
Use visuals to heighten the level of engagement your followers have with your business. This could be photos of a new product, shots of your team at work or perhaps a vine video to promote a service.Utilising a good creative agency to handle some of your social can be a good way of injecting visual impetus. This will not only interest your followers but also mixes up your forms of communication, which feels more natural and engaging.
Why not start a visual campaign which spans your twitter, linked in and facebook header areas? This can be driven by a big idea designed to create engagement and make your customers think deeper about the value of your service offering. Your creative agency can help you to specifically target your customers and what it is you want to communicate.
React
React to other conversations or trends that are taking part and join in. Your followers will appreciate you taking an active interest in their interests.
Schedule
Using Hootsuite or Tweetdeck gives you the ability to plan and schedule some of your communication. Now most social media communication should be organic but there is value in scheduling, perhaps to send out a message when a certain event is taking place, or to reach followers in different time zones.
Think before you tweet
Once a piece of communication is out there, there’s no going back. Messages can be deleted but we all know that the immediacy of social media means that even deleted messages are picked up. Give yourself time think through your communication first. It will pay off in the long run. Try to think from the perspective of a marketing agency; all communication is designed to have a specific effect. Don’t undermine the all your good work.
Set Goals
Any campaign or extended period of communication should have an overall goal. Retweets, likes, follows etc. are all great ways of measuring the success of your communication. Setting yourself goals, using previous campaigns, as a benchmark is a good starting point.
Embrace new platforms
Don’t be scared to use new social media platforms. The greatest level of engagement comes when combining different platforms. For instance, Pinterest can be used in conjunction with Twitter or Facebook to add visual impact.
Tone of voice
Your tone is paramount to all of your social communication. Strike the right balance that fits your brand. You should be an expert in your field so reflect this in your communication.
Following the above steps should ensure your company has a good reputation on social media. Just remember, social is an ever-changing landscape so it is important to keep on eye on the latest developments. Above all, this is your brands chance to interact with the very fans and customers you cherish, so be good to them!
Images courtesy of:Institute for Social, Search & Mobile Marketing, Pinterest, Hootsuite
