As we venture further into the age of social media, many legacy companies wonder: How do we integrate ourselves into the new fabric of digital marketing? Individuals and companies who grew up with this new frontier are plugged in, and often have an innate understanding of how to operate and navigate social media. Older, more long-standing companies however have gone so long without it that they may not naturally know how integrate successfully. This article will provide you with 6 tips, tricks, and strategies intended to get you started and keep you on course as a social media marketer.
- Know your content:
The first thing to cover is exactly what you want to put out there as a company. Not only do you need to know what message you want to send, you need to know what type of content that message is couched in, be it Listicles (like this one), Behind-the-scenes videos, memes, or any other type of online content. What distinguishes that content from not only your competition, but from your own various forms of promotion? Social media is not the place to spam repetitive ads, but the place to get specific and diverse. You don’t want to just repost your TV spot on Facebook, you want to make your Facebook post something that could ONLY play out in Facebook. Which leads us to the next tip… - Know your platform:
The beauty of social media is, as previously stated, how diverse and specific it is. That extends not only to content, but to delivery system. People generally don’t go on Twitter to read long, formally-written multi-posts about the stance and outlook of your company. People on Twitter want short, pithy, effective, and often humorous posts under 160 characters. Twitter is conversational, so loosen up. Engage using the systems that Twitter has provided you with, such as polls, retweets, and the reply system. What plays on Twitter won’t play on your company blog, which won’t play on Facebook, which won’t play on your audio-only Spotify ad. Embrace the unique features of each site, and make them integral to how you market yourself on that site. On the note of uniqueness… - Know your audience:
Each social media platform attracts specific users who act a specific way and expect specific things. People who go to your company’s blog don’t want short, shallow jokes about your company. They want more length, more detail. They came all the way to YOUR site to read YOUR content. Even still, it should be personal, because the blog culture You need to know what the online culture is on your platform, who is likely reading and interacting with your content, so you can anticipate how they might respond. The ultimate goal should be not to stick out like “Hi! I am a corporately-run company here on your social media site. Come hither!” As Kaplan states, “There’s no need to spend $100,000 to design the perfect MySpace presence, or hire a professional writer to manage your corporate blog. Instead, try to blend in with other users and don’t be afraid to make mistakes!” (Kalpan 67) As stated previously, social media tends to be conversational, not presentational. Figure out how each audience interacts on each platform, and engage with them in that same manner. Speaking of engaging with audience... - Stay present:
Nothing will kill your social media presence more than, well, a lack of presence. People on social media want updates, responses, and engagement on the regular. Depending on the size of your company, social media maintenance and interaction should be a full-time job, maybe for more than one person! It’s really hard to get people to respond to your Twitter poll or click through to your Tumblr page if they’re not seeing regular posts and content to interact with, or being responded back to. Take time to not only craft posts and produce content, but to engage with your audience. Reply to Tweets and comments (both positive and negative), reblog their posts, reach out to them and start a dialogue. You have to be social on social media. Consistency is key. Wait, did someone say consistency? Because you also need to always… - Stay on brand:
There is almost nothing that can ruin a company’s social media presence more than a lack of consistency. When you’re starting a social media presence, you need to make sure that any outgoing content is not only in keeping with the info you want to send out there, but with the ideas and branding you are trying to push. This is not to say that you can’t diversify your branding styles, but there should always be a throughline, a shared perspective or theme in the individual campaigns as well as your overall presence. Branding is also important to make uniform on not only your own content but on any and every issue that you might have to engage on. Make no mistake, when something arises in the pop-culture zeitgeist, more often than not people will eventually want to know your stance on it. As such, it is important to clarify and make consistent your stances on such things. Once something’s put out on the internet, it stays there, and people will find it even years down the road. Contradicting yourself looks bad on everyone, and so it is important to stay on-message and on-brand with anything you are pushing out to the public. I don’t have a smooth segue to the final point, so we’ll just launch right in. - Stay adaptive:
The world of social media moves quickly. Facebook is a company valued at multiple billions of dollars, but even now is viewed by younger generations as on the decline. it is important to always be on top of what is new in social media. Be ready to experiment, to transition from platform to platform, to see how your platforms can integrate and cross-promote. If you want to be seen as a technology-forward company, as a company that is relevant and will stay relevant, you can to be ready for the curveballs the social media landscape is going to throw at you. You never know what might take off and what might fizzle out, so stay on top of these transitions, and always try to be the first in line to jump on the train, when the time is right.
Kaplan, Andreas M., “Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,” Business Horizons (2010) 53, 59-68
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