Social Media Campaigns: Keeping the Focus

Happy New Year! As we return from our holiday down time and prepare to jump enthusiastically back into our marketing campaigns, we need to remember a basic social media concept. Whether we are handling our own or our clients’ businesses, we must recommit to the rule that our efforts be customer centered. What do our current/prospective clients need? How can we satisfy those needs? What can we share with them that will bring value to their businesses and/or their lives? These are the reasons for a social media business presence, after all.

Here are some good rules of thumb for keeping our social efforts client centric:

1. Share value, not incessant sales pitches. Remember, social media is a pull-marketing technique. Our audience is seeking helpful instruction and good engagement. We need to provide high quality information in the posts we create and share from reputable peers in the field. While there is nothing wrong with an occasional direct pitch, our audience does not like to be overwhelmed by them.

2. Post lots of pictures and, where possible, videos. These shares garner the most views, so they are more effective at conveying important information. Multimedia postings also encourage the most engagement.

3. Be ourselves when posting. Don’t be afraid to allow clients to see and interact with the human side behind our brands. Doing so is viewed positively by a vast majority of our audience.

4. Be mindful of the fact that the best tolerated social media advertising we can effect is through soft selling. Instead of shoving our messages under their noses, we need to make our audience understand how our products/services will satisfy specific needs they have. Share testimonials from other satisfied customers. Conduct contests if our businesses lend themselves to that approach. Request input on certain decisions regarding packaging, features, and other details where possible. Post pictures of our products in action, or better yet, ask our readers to post their own. We need to set the stage for our audience to come to us via our methods of sharing, talking and helping them with their needs.

What are other techniques we should employ to keep the focus of our social media efforts where it belongs – on our customers? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!