Welcome to the Kleber & Associates blog! Here’s the latest on Taking Your Brand Social
It may seem like everyone is aboard the social media train (and they probably are). But just because everyone else is doing it – should your brand go social too? Here are some things to consider before jumping on the bandwagon.
First, ask yourself what you want to achieve and set up goals. Each brand is going to have a slightly different goal, but several similar goals have emerged across the board: increase revenue through sales, build brand identity, or grow a customer database.
Second, determine where your target audience is spending time online, and choose the social media platforms you want to join based on your answer. Making sure your target audience is active on the site you want to join is key. For example, if your target audience is middle-aged men, steer clear of Pinterest, as it has an audience of mostly younger to middle-aged women. If you want to network with other professionals in your industry, LinkedIn might be your best bet.
Once you have taken these steps, it’s time to develop your content strategy. Deciding what your content will be ahead of time is a very important best practice to follow. One of the biggest mistakes brands make is flooding online channels with pointless information. Get to know your audience and decide what is important to them before you post. What are they talking about? Who are they talking about? What times are they posting? You should also determine the most effective way to deliver your content. Is the content best shown in a video, a picture, or a block of text? This kind of research will help you craft your content, show your audience that your brand is worth paying attention to, and that, in turn, will build your followership.
Gaining fans and followers is great – but engaging with them is the whole point! Social media is Social. Ask them questions, comment on their posts and photos, etc. Keep your conversations going and you will build relationships with the people who matter most. Once you have engagement on your page, you should make sure the engagement is leading to the completion of your goals. This is primarily achieved by the type of content you choose to share and the way you interact with people.
Lastly, brands need to measure their online activities. There is a multitude of measurement tools available depending on the social channel you choose including Facebook Insights, Hootsuite Reports, website analytics, and social monitoring tools like SDL by Alterian and Radian 6. And don’t just stop at the big numbers of followers. Examining the data for each post will help you determine what kind of content your audience likes and improve your strategy based on the results.
