How can an agency help a client monetize their social media when they don't have a handle on how to use it for itself? As more-and-more agencies jump on the social media band-wagon, clients are beginning to ask them, "what has social media done for you?"
Gone are the days when an agency can get by "talking the talk but not walking the walk." Clients will be able to discern between the agencies that truly get social media from the ones that don't with just a few clicks of their mouse.
That said, does your agency have a social media strategy or are you winging it?
100% of our clients are online and all they have to do is take a quick look and they can easily tell that most agencies have no plan with regards to social media. Agencies may have a blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, but those accounts tend to hide behind the agency name and tend to be blatantly self promotional with little value to an undefinable audience.
Not only is it clear agencies have no definitive audience (everything to everybody) but there is no integration, no overarching strategy to reach viable goals and objectives. It's like most agencies have a "check-list" of social media accounts but no plan to make it all work.
"Agencies are going about their social media strategy bass-ackward. They are selecting the most popular to-date, social communications technologies instead of focusing on what they want to accomplish."
Your purpose should dictate strategy and the tactics used for reaching desired goals. A few common outcomes for your social media marketing efforts should include:
- Gain insight into your target audience - You can use all the qualitative data you want, but some of the most interesting and helpful market research can be found within the social communities where your prospective clients interact, share information and make recommendations.
- Link building for traffic and SEO - According to Marketing Sherpa, 80-90% of business to business transactions begin with a search on the web. Creating link-bait and promoting it to social media news and bookmarking sites can attract a slew of links from bloggers that read them. Creating value for the community is not the only rule, creating value and behaving according to formal and unwritten rules is what sustains social media sourced link building.
- Build brand visibility and authority - You've heard it before,"Conversations are happening online about your agency's brand, with or without you." You might as well participate and do so in a way that pays close attention to the interests and needs of your prospective clients - providing them with information and interactions that further support your agency's brand.
- Connect through content. Almost 95% of recent purchasers said the solution provider they chose "provided them with ample content to help navigate through each stage of the buying process." Publishing the right content and making sure it gets found in the right places is a vital component for your new business strategy.
Start with a plan. I propose that agencies demonstrate a competency with this new communications channel by using it for effectively for themselves by creating a social media plan with the objective of creating qualified inbound leads. Fuel their new business pipeline in a way that is sustainable when the agency is at its busiest.
A few client social media success stories: StormHoek Wines increased their sales by 400+% after sending wine to bloggers, inviting them to blog about the wine (good, bad or indifferent). Burpee Seeds created a daily relationship with customers through RSS feeds on gardening news, tips and coupons, increasing sales 400%. BlendTec's Will It Blend videos increased their sales by 500%.
What has social media done for your business? Please share your successes in the comment section below.
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