Social media have become an essential part of the marketing toolkit and must work in tandem with other media to help you achieve your overall marketing objectives. Endless choices make it difficult to make the right decisions. Companies frequently get lost in the clutter of social trends, leading to the elaboration and separation of social objectives from the overall “big idea.” Getting started can seem like an obstacle, but once a social strategy is under way the hardest part is over.
Establishing guidelines and rules for social media allows businesses to overcome the hurdle of social chaos and alleviate unnecessary stress. Parameters should be realistic in light of available resources and messages should have a consistent tone and significance. When clients turn to us regarding social media, we recommend implementing companywide social policies to enforce cohesive branding and messaging. A handful of outspoken and devoted employees may have thoughtful ideas, but do those ideas reflect the unified views of the company?
To begin this journey toward social tranquility, a company must determine which social sites are appropriate for its organization. Social media are not “one size fits all,” but require a tailored fitting. According to writer and blogger Seth Godin, “We don’t need more time, we just need to decide.” Deciding which platforms to use is crucial; however, the “Big Three” of social media are typically a safe bet.
As social media guru Scott Monty puts it: “LinkedIn is the business meeting, Facebook is the hallway conversation and Twitter is the cocktail party.” Perceiving social media in this fashion allows companies to implement specific agendas for each platform in the relevant context. Personalization is important, but becoming an early adaptor of an unfamiliar social platform is not an efficient use of your time – keep that for the holiday electronic wish list.
Take LinkedIn, for example – joining the right groups permits mutually beneficial relationships. Interaction within group discussions increases credit in relevant ways. Facebook helps build relationships with the consumer and merits an open dialog, while Twitter’s character restriction encourages conversation as a fun and witty stream of updates.
The introduction of aggregation tools such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Buffer has made managing the social space much more efficient, freeing up time and resources while streamlining updates and posts through a single source. Granting individual employees access to aggregation tools allows messaging and topics to be managed and approved through a queue. Additional focus can then be applied to getting in the groove of choosing topics and adding snippets of character. Thought-provoking messaging keeps the social relationship interesting. The worst thing a company can do is spam “friends,” followers, or connections with useless blasts containing minute substance.
As we’ve noted (and quoted) before, “[Social media] is about pursuing relationships and fostering communities of consumers. It’s about rethinking how you make plans when your customers are in the center and in control.” Thank you, Paul Adams (senior user experience researcher, Google); we couldn’t have said it better. Businesses must make sure that they’re building relationships with their social friends. So, forget social overload – stay consistent with your overall objectives, implement social guidelines, share relevant information, and save time using the tools available.
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