The best social media strategy is the one that works for your business. It will differ from your competitors because your company has a unique culture that creates specific expectations from your customers. Your relationship with them is determined by how well you meet those expectations. This has to be the primary consideration when choosing social media platforms and participation tactics.
The established rules of engagement are guidelines based on individual preferences and theories not proven results. Companies with successful strategies break the rules every day. Rules like:
- Don't use social media platforms to promote your business.
- Never automate tweets or posts.
- Promote others and people will buy from you.
- Let your customers speak for your business.
The people who are successfully using social media, including the ones who make the rules, know a few secrets. Here are five to get you started with a great strategy for your business:
- Social media is a marketing channel. Okay, I know it is not politically correct to say this in the SM world, but I dare anyone to provide one example of a successful corporate strategy that does not treat SM as a marketing channel. (So you know, if it doesn't ultimately increase sales and/or customer satisfaction, I don't consider it successful.) All of the best examples include a combination of marketing, customer care, and conversation designed to move people into the sales cycle and keep them happy.
- Social media is hard work. It requires planning, testing, execution, and measurement just like every other marketing strategy. If you are chatting away without including calls to action that move people into the sales cycle you are wasting your time. I hate to be the one to tell you, but people don't really care about what you are doing. They care about what you are doing to help them.
- Altruism doesn't move you forward in social media. A recent social media audit we conducted found that the company's participation included sharing content created by their competitors. They had been advised that this was a social media best practice. In the real world, this is the same as redirecting people to your competitor's website when they visit yours. Sharing content that validates your business is good if you are smart about how you do it. Sending people to the competition? Not. So. Much.
- Social media is SEO friendly. If you miss every other point in this post, don't miss this one. Search engines like social media. Including good keywords and links increases organic search results. It extends the life of your tweets, posts, and discussions. Even if your target market isn't actively participating, you can benefit from social media participation by optimizing the search results.
- One size doesn't fit all. Social media isn't right for every company but every company should test it. What works for your competition may not work for you. Establish reasonable goals, define how you will measure, and try new approaches until you find the one that works or exhaust the options. Trial and error is often the key to social media success. Some tactics can be borrowed, but in the end, the things that work best for your business will be different from what works for other companies. It's one of the things that make SM different from other marketing channels.
People of the world driving sales by chatting about your business is a great sound bite, but reality is different. If you are waiting for the magic turning point where people naturally gravitate to your company, it will be a long wait. Instead of waiting, why not create something that encourages people to participate and motivates them to buy?