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What's so hard about being social?
The emergence and prevalence of social media has given customers a voice - and businesses who refuse to engage or converse are not only missing out on opportunities, but potentially losing customers too.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, June 06, 2010 /Online Marketing - SEO PR News/ -- For a long time now, I've felt that the most effective way to market a business or brand was to target customers with a 'through the line' approach. To me this is the integration of all marketing channels - where every channel compliments the other in such a way as to ensure maximum penetration and engagement with customers and potential clients.
Engagement really is a key word here as, more and more, online marketing's focus is shifting to engaging with customers. It's not uncommon these days to hear the maxim "it's not just about return on investment, but also return on engagement". As trite as that might sound, the emergence and prevalence of social media has given customers a voice - and businesses who refuse to engage or converse are not only missing out on opportunities, but potentially losing customers too.
One of the biggest obstacles faced by many businesses dipping into the social media realm is a lack of understanding of the medium. While this is completely understandable, especially in organisations that are entrenched in a very traditional approach to their PR and marketing, social media really isn't as complicated as people might think.
Perhaps at the root of the misconception that social media is difficult is the notion that social media is just Facebook or Twitter. Social media is, at its core, media that is created with the purpose of being shared widely with others. It encourages interaction, discussion and dissemination. It is a dialogue, not a monologue.
Many marketers have difficulty understanding how one would go about 'managing' a dialogue. In truth, you can't. What you can do is equip yourself with the know-how and best practises so that you know how to respond if the conversation turns sour.
The lines are already blurred between social and traditional media. For example, it's common to find comments on news stories as well as social bookmarking buttons.
It's important to realise that while social media marketing is not overly complicated in principle, it does take a considerable investment of resources to execute a social media marketing campaign effectively. This is where many businesses and brands may fall short.
While it's all good and well to develop an amazing strategy with breathtaking creative - if there's no one driving it and responding to feedback, the conversation will fall flat.
So, what are the key points to remember when setting up a social media campaign while engaging with customers?
• Identify your target audience - know where they are and what their interests are (and actually care about them!)
• Define your social media objectives and consider how you are going to measure results
• The person (or people) who manage your social networks should be familiar with the brand's response tactics and 'voice'. Never be sarcastic with your fans - it's a one-way ticket to trouble.
• Don't delete angry and negative comments, rather respond to them
• Do engage with customers
• Don't push out overt marketing messages - this is not one-way push marketing. Dumping promotional links will lose you fans and friends.
• Follow your fans back and actively engage with individuals
• Don't use auto-responders - they're considered spammy and impersonal. Response time is critical, in the online sphere responses are expected almost immediately, but these should come from a real person.
Social media marketing and monitoring is a time consuming exercise and most definitely a full-time job, not something you let the new intern 'take care of'. Perhaps this is where social media's "difficulty" lies.
AlterSage, a full service online marketing agency, offers tailored online marketing solutions that achieve targeted exposure for your website. Goal focussed and driven by return on investment, services include search engine optimisation, pay per click advertising, web design and development, persuasive web copywriting, brand building, conversion analysis and many more.
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