You see it time and time again. You or a friend becomes passionate about a company or a brand, and want to find out more about them; you immerse yourself in their culture, receive interesting news and updates from them, and maybe even a special offer every once in a while. You subscribe to their e-mail newsletters, visit their website (which is hopefully current), and want to hit them up on Facebook or Twitter. Last update: October 2009. Bummer.
Nothing “kills the mood” more than a social media channel which isn’t regularly updated—and one might argue that it’s better to have no social media presence at all than a dead one. So hopefully, by the conclusion of this article, you will be able to put some of these six 😉 not-too-hard to implement strategies into use at your company or organization in order to breathe some life into a neglected social media presence.
- Complete your profile… FULLY – This might seem like an obvious one, but you’d be surprised at the amount of social media channels I’ve come across that have little to no information about the company. Let’s say a friend of one of your current followers/friends stumbles upon your page after their curiosity gets the best of them– and there’s no background information on your company? What if within half a minute they can’t even deduce what you do? Bye-bye to this prospective customer.
- Make your page WORTH following – As I touched on before, create a value in your social media presence. Ask yourself, what does your audience have to gain by following you? A company can’t expect that every person that “likes” them on Facebook, or follows them on Twitter, isn’t expecting something out of the deal. As one of your followers, what benefit do I have that a non-follower doesn’t have? And if there is none, then why I am I “liking” or following you? Make the content that you post on your social media channels worthy of sharing.
- Engage your users; don’t dismiss or try to control them – If you have a lot of people following you on a social network, and are asking you questions or commenting on your wall, jump in on the fun! Users are more likely to follow pages where they see that the company that operates it is actually engaging their users. And, if there is a comment that pops up on your wall that isn’t entirely positive, address it. Don’t delete it. Your followers will respect you more for it.
- Make your presence personal and human – One of the biggest errors companies make is making their social media presence too corporate. Some will find it cold and distancing, and others will just find it boring. Use fun, engaging language and use the social opportunity to deliver a voice and personality. Also, designate one person to be in charge of updating your social media channels to keep the voice consistent.
- Consistency and simplicity pay off – Make your channels consistent with your existing marketing and brand message, and simple and clean in their design. If you have social media channels on a number of different networks, link between them so that people have options when it comes to when and where they can follow you. There are even desktop and mobile applications you can download (ex.TweetDeck) that allow you to update multiple social media channels all at once. Isn’t technology grand?
- Focus on results that aren’t quantitative – If you are a company selling a product, there is no trackable way to find out of someone went out and bought your product just because they are following your presence on a social media channel. Instead, focus on which types of updates are gathering the most amount of favour with your followers. You can even use your channel as a way to post questions and get feedback from your followers and engage them in dialogue.
A large number of companies and organizations these days are engaging in social media without a clue on how to engage their audience effectively, or how to play to their strengths. By knowing and identifying with your audience, you will be able to cut through the chaff and make your social media presence one that people take notice of!
How is your social campaign going? Send me an email and let me know!
Adam Levy
Account Manager / Special Projects
6P Marketing