In an age of instant information and on-line presence, it is a foolish company that ignores the advantage that can be delivered via social media. That said, it is just as foolish to rush in without a formulated strategy. A strategy can ensure an organisation is perceived as professional and trustworthy/ The lack of a strategy could lead to a PR disaster.
The Channels
First you need to understand what forms (or channels) of social media are available. Then decide which are appropriate for your business, as some on-line presences may be a better fit than others. Also, remember that trends in social media evolve at an alarming rate. So ensure you revisit your options on a regular basis.Some of the more popular social media channels that are available at the time of writing this article include:
- Blogger
- Google+
- YouTube
As I have said, these are only the more popular platforms. There are also a multitude of more niche social media platforms that may be just the thing you are looking for.
The Goal
Social media for social media’s sake does not serve a business need. There must be at least one goal behind your on-line presence. Are you looking to:
Improve website traffic
- Generate sales
- Increase brand awareness
- Improve customer interaction
- Provide an information service
- Etc. etc.
Having a goal will give your on-line presence focus, meaning and help shape a consistent message to your audience.
The Investment
Time is a valuable commodity, and how it is spent in any organisation has to be balanced. You need to consider how many man-hours you want (or can afford) to spend on your social media activities. Then, work out how and when this time will be allocated.
The Hook
Which approach will you take for your activities? What will ‘hook’ followers? Remember just pushing a message of ‘buy me’ repeatedly rarely produces results. Social media has matured and now people expect to see content not just adverts. So what will you utilise to capture and keep your audience:
- Humour
- Offers that cannot be ignored
- Offers that are available nowhere else
- Content that informs and educates
- Provide a ‘real person’ face to your customers
The Content
How will you generate new and fresh content to keep your audience interested? One of the worst things you can do in any social media sphere is go quiet, go dark. Social media is fast moving and you could easily be forgotten about.
The Word
How will you spread the word about your latest social media presence? You cannot rely on people just stumbling across you latest YouTube Channel or Facebook page. You need to get the word out without spamming everyone you have ever had contact with and annoying those you are yet to meet.
Make use of those close to you that have established presence. Don’t flood the space, but hint at it. It is nice when something takes off all of a sudden, but remember a slowly building following is still a building audience.
The Measurement.
Remember to build in the means to track the effectiveness of any strategy. A lot of platforms have built in tools to track viewings, visitors, shares etc. However, consider expanding this by using unique offer codes, unique URLs etc. This way you will be able to invest in the areas that work for your business and reconsider those that don’t.
The Curve
Finally, social media is a learning curve for any organisation some strategies succeed, where others just die and wither away. Use your own experience to constantly refine and reshape your businesses strategy. But, also keep an eye on the competition ;)
Will Hogarth
CTO @ VGS Global
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