Your social media audience, customers and prospects are not on every social channel. Focus your marketing strategy at the start on the places your customers and prospects are likely to use.
One easy way to tell which social networks are popular with your audience is asking them.
Here is an idea, start a poll at the receptionist desk. Ask your existing customers directly and record their response. It is the best source of data.
Looking at specific web analytics data to determine sources of traffic is another insightful source. See traffic from a specific network – that is where your target is.
Finally, ask social media fans and followers whether they also subscribe to your company newsletters or email promos. Email subscribers are your brand ambassador; thank them for promoting your social media in advance.
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the big three. Pick the social network with the most customers and start networking. Post valuable content, share links to articles about your industry; congratulate customers and competitors on milestones like anniversaries and birthdays.
The right approach is different for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Facebook: Ultimately you need likes and activity on the Facebook Page to drive the post to be seen in the newsfeed. Develop a mix of content and share often with fans. Provide occasional promotions and share inside looks at life inside your company. Facebook is a place for fun and entertaining topics, ask a lot of questions to gain responses and comments.
Twitter: Special offers and deals are a draw for Twitter followers. Your Twitter strategy is to feed influencers content that gives them something to retweet and share. Short commentaries to draw curiosity to your company as well as establishing a voice and personality go a long way. Prompt attention to replies and retweets as well as compliments and engaging others is a best practice.
LinkedIn: Lead generation is a focus of your LinkedIn connections. Engaging in group discussions, interactions via messaging and sharing reputable content is more effective than treating this as a sales channel. Avoid the sell sell sell, focus instead on building reputation, nurturing connections and liking other shared content. Create then post original ideas, inside tips and share valuable articles are just a few steps to lead generation.
Tie social postings together; coordinate your Facebook updates, tweets and LinkedIn updates to build awareness for upcoming events, special promotions or product launches. Connect one or more networks together, set up your tweets to post to LinkedIn or vice versa. Auto schedule posts in advance based off your marketing plan.
Do you have any ideas to add? Please speak your mind, leave a comment below.
