Social Media – It’s All About THEM

by Jeanine Vecchiarelli                              return to JayVee Media Link LLC 

Launching a social media campaign can be daunting.  We are excited by the prospect of a new business challenge; we are eager to show positive results as quickly as possible.  We can easily become overwhelmed in our attempts to build an audience, post consistently, create quality content, etc.

1. Every new campaign needs direction.  Just as we plan out a road trip, with a designated travel route and defined start and end points, we need to build a strategy map for each campaign we launch.
2. Building social relationships is essential if enough trust is to develop for conversion to take place.  This takes time.  There is no short cut for allowing familiarity and trust to take root.
3. As we research, post and engage in our quest for the most direct route to a successful campaign, we must remember that our efforts need to be all about the people in our target market.  What appeals to them?  How can we satisfy a need that they have?  What can we share that will have good value to them?  These are the questions we need to keep in mind as we proceed.

1. Post authentically.  Be open and honest.  Show eagerness to help.  Let others see that our brands have human sides.  People can spot phonies very readily.  Why would we risk such a branding?
2. Do an analysis to determine what days and times the greatest number of our fans and followers are on their social media profiles.  We can then arrange to concentrate our posts during those peak times.  Don’t neglect weekends, too!  Recent studies have shown that a lot more activity takes place over weekends than was originally assumed.
3. Avoid constant sales pitches.  The majority of our posts should be carefully crafted information (original and shared) that has great value to our fans/followers.  Remember to use multimedia postings, too.  Pictures and videos get the most attention and inspire the most engagement.
4. Contests and special promotions are wonderful ways to build and engage audiences if our businesses lend themselves to such strategies.
5. Use picture postings to encourage fun conversation.  For example, invite fans and followers to supply captions.
6.  Ask open questions, both at the end of our blogs and as stand alone posts.  Queries can be business related or about life events, general/current issues, etc.  Be ready to respond in a timely fashion, so the engagement we foster doesn’t languish.
7. Involve fans/followers in certain business decisions.  For example, if a new product is in development, post pictures of various possible designs and ask for input.
8. Ask fans and followers to post their own pictures on our business page timelines. Photos depicting our products in use can be great testimonials!
9. Encourage crowd sourcing.  People love to feel valued.  Asking for their input to help others breeds excellent loyalty!  This activity can also teach US more about THEM: the way they think and problem solve, and what makes them tick.

Each social media campaign we launch requires a large time investment and plenty of patient diligence.  We must remember that there are no short cuts to success…and we must remember to make that point clear to our clients if we are managing campaigns for them.  Working steadily and employing the tips listed above are good ways to pave the most direct route to success.

What tips can you add to the ones mentioned above?  Please share your ideas in the comments section below!