Social media is the new word of mouth, so when the conversation online with customers or prospects begins, the friends and contacts that like what they see and react, and are going to join the conversation as well. Perhaps you aren’t monitoring your social media feeds; in that case you are missing out on information.
One of the best ways to spark a conversation online is to write about questions or comments your customers may have mentioned, and reply to them in your content. By incorporating your social media connections into the dialogue, you are enabling a discussion specifically about your brand.
How you handle (or do not) questions and requests through social media will either polish or tarnish your company brand. Responding to public style questions deserve public answers, but don’t air your dirty laundry. Weigh your responses, and teach your social marketing staff to do the same.
The main thing to remember
When considering or maintaining a social marketing strategy you must realize that it needs to be based on contact. Contact is the foundation of today’s marketing, so it not only must engage the reader, it must answer some concern or question of your targeted audience. Without the correct keyword strategy, publishing calendar, timely topics chosen or injection into your social media, nothing is a bigger concern. Engaging, compelling content in any of its forms must attract and capture the reader, or it isn’t worth the time invested in producing it.
If you are one of those companies that have set up a social media business page and then abandoned it need a crash course in what is happening through the mechanisms of social sites. While Facebook uses an open format, with image, video and/or multi-media postings at your avail, Twitter limits the entries to 140 characters, including spaces and punctuation. It takes a bit of education to master either site, so just don’t jump right in without learning a few things. LinkedIn is yet another social media site that has grown dramatically in the past couple of years, and it has its own protocols. What works on one will certainly not work on the other. There are strategies that can meld them and other sites into a cohesive marketing methodology, however.
Your website and offline communications vehicles should carry your points of contact; Facebook page, Twitter handle, Pinterest page, LinkedIn profile and business page should be readily accessible to click through or to navigate with. QR codes are another tool for use to incorporate into print media, like Coke creatively accomplished. It’s just another way for their consumers to interact with their brand.
Here’s A Great Demonstration
If you haven’t viewed the Coca-Cola 2020 two-part project, you owe it to yourself to see the future in full view today. Their ambitious plan has gone through numerous iterations, and will certainly change the marketing scene globally.
The Coca-Cola 2020 video series is an excellent use of multi-media, as it is built on a new platform called Prezi. If you are interested in the future of marketing, these two organizations are driving marketing innovation like no one else.
When your prospects and customers interact with you as a result of your content, you must be active in the conversation. As content is the vehicle for driving the social media conversation, joining in is critical.
Zen Marketing can deliver marketing campaign development, consulting and content creation, curation and marketing analysis. We’re confident in our capabilities to ensure yours.
