Every quarter ICUC hosts a month-long series dedicated to one topic in the social media space. It’s a New Year, and a time for resolutions and hope: so get your social strategy in shape with our first ever “Boot Camp.” Just like a personal trainer, we’ll provide daily content to motivate, inspire, and educate both brands and social media professionals on everything SoMe. Best practices, tips, platform knowledge, tools you can use, advice and insight based on our expertise and experience – we’ll be sharing it all with you, everyday here at Snoo.ws. We hope you’ll stay tuned throughout the month!
Social media is necessary in today’s world and consumers have the expectation that brands will not only have a presence online, but will be available for interaction.
It’s important to have a strategy and plan in place for your social media.
- What are your objectives? What results are you aiming for?
- Who is your target audience? How do you plan to reach them?
- What type of content will you post? What is the focus? How often?
- What will you do in the face of negativity or a crisis?
- How will you monitor user content?
- How will you measure your social media presence and influence?
Brands should be present on one or more social media sites, depending on their target audience. It’s important to know which platform will allow you to easily connect with them.
- Facebook: with over 955 million users is the best site to build a community around your brand and connect with fans.
- Twitter: with over 465 million users is the best site for interacting in a two-way conversation with followers of your brand
- Google+: with over 400 million users is a good platform to get your brand noticed.
- LinkedIn: with over 161 million users is the best networking and recruiting site for businesses.
- Instagram: with over 100 million users is a way to get customers to participate by posting images of your brand in use.
- Pinterest: with over 12 million users is a visual platform you can use to show off your brand and get users to promote you.
- YouTube: with over 4 billion page views per day is a great platform for showing content and educating fans about your brand.
Once you have a clear and concise social media strategy and plan in place, and have chosen your social platforms to engage your audience, you’re ready to go. However, it’s good to keep a few things in mind as you put your brand’s image and reputation out there for the world to see and engage with.
- Keep your social media voice consistent throughout all platforms.
- Remember that your company is made up of people who are interacting with other people online, so be human and engage your audience. This will create brand loyalty and increase traffic.
- Post content that is relevant to your audience as well as interesting and informative. Have fun too with photos, contests and promotions.
- Always respond to any questions or concerns quickly. It’s a two-way conversation and today’s social media users expect to be heard and acknowledged.