Lucy HitzAccording to the 2015 Social Marketing Trends Report from TrustRadius, most marketers list “developing their social strategy” as a top pain point. At Simply Measured, we see this struggle each day. We know it’s real. How can you hit your bottom line by developing and improving your social strategy? These five tips can help any organization reach its goals on social.
1. Set Social Media Goals and Determine How You’ll Measure Success
When we first start working with a client, we ask, “What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)?”
Their response usually is, “We need help with that. We don’t know what to measure.”
At that point, we ask what the client wants out of their social media programs. Are they looking to increase website traffic, build brand awareness, understand what others are saying about them, generate more leads, or increase engagement on a particular social network? By thinking about ideal outcomes, these teams more quickly get to their strategy. They know what it is they want to measure.
2. Track and Adjust As You Go Along
When you’re developing your social media strategy, there’s no easy black and white answer. Your strategy can always be improved, and you’ll have to make tweaks as you go along. Regularly track your firm’s social media performance to find areas for improvement and adjust accordingly. Stay agile and continue to test various social media strategies to find what works best for your firm and its audiences.
SEE ALSO: Top Twitter Marketing Techniques to Connect with Your Audience
There’s a quote we like here at Simply Measured: “If you don’t measure it you can’t understand it. If you don’t understand it, you can’t improve it.”
3. Think In Phases
Set realistic expectations around how you are going to organize and attack your social media strategy. You could say, for example, “In phase one, our focus is on growing our audience, so engagement numbers won’t be great. In phase two, we’ll focus on maintaining and growing our engagement. Then, in phase three, we’ll work to understand how to turn that engagement into business results.”
4. Make Personal Connections and Build Relationships
Don’t be afraid to take chances. Healthcare company Cigna tweets directly at people and interjects in health-related conversations on Twitter. They’re finding great engagement, positive feedback, and new connections with this community-building attitude on social.
@jacobyboyer Nice job Jacob! Stay motivated!
— Cigna (@Cigna) June 25, 2015
Soliciting user-generated content from your followers is another great way to expand your social offerings. For example, customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce created a community called IdeaExchange. The community is a forum for their customers and followers to suggest ideas for new features and allows others to vote for their favorite ideas.
@salesforce listens to its customers feedback! IdeaExchange Update: Customer Ideas in… http://t.co/6ZFAXmeYIJ pic.twitter.com/QjBIFAc7Ia
— Emily Shockley (@emilyshockley) August 6, 2014
5. Reach Out to Other Teams
Get as many people on board with your social efforts as possible. If you work for a bigger company, there are sometimes hoops to jump through to get content approved—but there are also incredible opportunities in what you might think of us as mundane moments.
For example, if you’re a healthcare company, can you share a behind-the-scenes picture of your employees on a group bike ride or community service event? If you work at a construction firm, can you shoot behind-the-scenes videos of projects in action?
Try to get everyone interested in being nimble and supporting your social media presence. Employees can be the biggest advocates for your professional services firm. They will affect your social media marketing strategy by opening doors for more unique, appealing content.
So how do you stay inspired and use social to hit your goals? We want to know what you’ve done to develop and modify your social strategy. Share your top tips in the comments below.
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