Social Media ABCs
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A. Research your marketplace
--Where do your existing and potential online customers socialize?
“Listening tools” will give you a good idea of what’s being said online, where messages are posted and where users spend time.
Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) emails you whenever a chosen keyword (e.g., company or product name, CEO name, campaign tagline, industry term, etc.) is mentioned in any form of online content.
Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com) scans the blogosphere for any keyword or phrase you input.
Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com) scans all Twitter posts for your selected keyword or phrase.
SocialMention (http://www.socialmention.com) enables you to search video, etc.), or as a whole, and to receive email alerts when a new mention is posted.
--Note what’s being said: whether it’s positive, negative or neutral; what people are passing along to friends; and if there are any particular needs or customer segments that aren’t served.
B. Where are your competitors participating? How?
--Analyze your competitors’ social media efforts and how they’re being perceived online.
--Start by researching where your competitors are participating. Visit company websites; organizations often promote their social media profiles.
--Note the following about each network in which they have a presence:
- How they present themselves: What do their profiles look like? What types of company information do they offer? What tone and wording do they use?
- Who their fans and followers are: Are these customers, employees, partners or the general public? Are these the same users you are hoping to engage?
- How they interact with those users: How often do they post new content and updates? Do they initiate conversations or hold contests to increase user engagement? Do they integrate video or other interactive media to add interest?
- How their users respond: How many comments or other interactions have been posted and/or shared by their fans? What are the comments about?
- To what extent is their fan base growing?
C. Plot Your Objectives and Strategy
--Determine your goals and planned approach. What are you looking
to get out of this investment today and in the future?
What steps do you need to take to make it happen?
--Consider how to:
- Expand brand or product awareness: How you will get your brand name out there (advertising, promotion, integration with other media, blogger outreach, and initiation of peer sharing and user-generated content campaigns, etc.).
- Build community: How you will attract fans (awareness building, advertising, promoting, appealing to a specific target audience, etc.) and keep them engaged (tailored content plans, tone, frequency and types of interactions, special offers and activities, etc.).
- Qualify fans and convert them to customers: How you will solicit information from users (surveys, contests, Facebook applications, conversation starters, measured content views, data mining and analytics, etc.) and use that insight to further the relationship (sales team involvement, product sampling, boosting the one-to-one nature of the conversation, etc.).
- Improve customer satisfaction: How you plan to offer exceptional service and support, and how you will go above and beyond their expectations.