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Creating the right “Channels” – Social Media Marketing done right!
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“We don’t have a choice on whether we DO social media, the question is how well we DO it” – Eric Qualman
“Social Media is about people! Provide for the people and people will provide for you” – Matt Goulart
“Don’t use Social Media to impress people; use it to impact people” – Dave Willis
Social Media Marketing has almost “revolutionized” the marketing world. There would have never been a more powerful way to reach your target market. With this, there has also been a rise in competition and that has only made things better. Campaign after campaign – there is much more innovation, creativity, meaning and connect. Campaign after campaign, there is an improvement in how businesses are promoting themselves. There is an improvement in the recall factor. People talk about how amazing some of the campaigns are and it just keeps getting better.
Knorr’s classic #LoveAtFirstTaste campaign build an incredibly strong, yet touching video on the power of love. This got them 7 million views in a single day. They connected the video to an emotion – that of love. This is what made it so memorable.
Burberry, a leading luxury brand ran a Snapchat Discover Channel native ad to promote a men’s scent. This garnered incredible attention, largely because it was a first of its kind. Yes, they dared to take the risk and it worked!
Domino’s started the Dominos Any Ware campaign which allowed people to order a pizza by tweeting
It just keeps getting more and more sophisticated! Fancier!
Quite obviously, what appeals so much to the brain and well, to the heart might have been the result of a lot of effort. Social Media Marketing is a complex activity that requires organization, creativity, skill and a lot of thought. Given that it is inevitable in today’s world where people literally live on the social media, it is important that businesses build a proper, well thought out strategy using the right channel mix.
Deciding on your channel mix is another time-consuming process. But here are a few steps which will help you plan.
Identify the major social media channels-
- At the moment, the most popular social media channels which drive the maximum amount of traffic are Facebook, LikedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Google +. For blogs, WordPress, Tumblr, and Blogger are extremely popular.
- Now, it is important to analyze the channels on which your target customers are most active and how they are interacting with the various brands. Beware that consumer preferences might change every now and then so it become important to stay abreast with what is happening.
Chart out the general benefits of using each channel
- Every channel can be used for different purposes. For instance, if you want to build a community, Facebook and Twitter are the best. So also if you want to promote and event or a cause. If you want to do something business/industry related, LinkedIn is your thing. Blogging, Pinterest and YouTube are perfect for learning and teaching new skills
- So just know all of this and analyze the various benefits that the different channels have to offer.
- Likewise, a specific channel may be more useful to educate while another one may be more useful if you want to entertain. Study everything and be sure to have an expert approach towards this.
Understand how each channel works
- Know how to use each channel. Know the restrictions. Know the features. For instance, basics like Facebook has a ‘timeline’, Pinterest makes use of ‘pins’, snapchat allows ‘temporary content ‘, character limit varies across channels and so on and so forth. Take a course in digital marketing and these things will come handy.
- The ideas is to be aware of everything that every channel has to offer so that this knowledge can be leveraged when you are doing the actual work.
Understand how each channel could benefit your business
Now that you are aware of everything that a channel has to offer and all of its features, it is important to make note of the specific benefits it will create for your business or brand. Unless you know this, your content marketing strategy cannot be built. The reason why you must pay a lot of attention to this step is that It helps you
- Decide the type of content – videos, posts, interviews, images, infographics, you will use
- Control and manage your content publishing
- Create new business opportunities
- Create your own brand and reputation
Analyze how a particular channel helps communicate
While Facebook allows personal messaging, Snapchat is more of a one-way promotion. This sure does have a bearing on your overall promotion strategy. Some channels do not allow customers to answer questions. This will in a way restrict online communication. There are some which allow you to offer greetings. There are others which have a “call-to-action” option
Map your Content to the Channel
One could create multiple types of content – videos, images, quizzes, links and much much more. Not all types of content will suit all types of media and this is something that needs to be borne in mind while planning your channel mix. The type of channel you choose and the kind of audience you are targeting will play an important role in deciding the type of content you will be using. Videos work best on Youtube and Facebook. Twitter supports crisper messaging. LinkedIn content needs to be more formal.
Develop Social Listening-
Social listening tools help identify how well your content is doing. How many people are responding, how much of your effort is translating into sales, how close are you to achieving your intended objective – assess everything, capitalize on things that are going fine and let go of those which are not. Also, note how many people are sharing your content. If there are many, this is good news. This whole exercise will help you figure which ones of your selected channels are generating maximum value and plan accordingly.
“Social Media is not a media. The key is to listen, engage, and build relationships” – David Alston
Once you master the above tricks and tips, the journey will be smooth for you.
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