Know Who You Are. Obviously, you can’t communicate what you don’t clearly know. If you want to give your prospects and customers a clear picture of your business and why it offers a superior product or service, you need to have a detailed written document of what your business does and who it is for.
Understand Your Customers. Social media isn’t always about talking. It’s also about listening and understanding. Your first job is to understand your customer. Know what matters to them and what they are concerned about. This will help you know what kind of content will be relevant to them. When you post the information your customers are looking for, you develop a relationship with customers and become a voice they can trust.
Develop a Strategy. When it comes to social media marketing, you need to be patient. One tweet with a keyword isn’t a content strategy. A content strategy is about building trust with your audience, your community, or your customers. In order to do this, you must have a plan. Once you have a firm grasp on who you are as a company as well as the wants, needs, and characteristics of your ideal customers, you are ready to put this plan together. It’s important that you take the time to put your plan (including your objectives, tactics, and benchmarks) in writing. This will enable you to refer back to it, communicate it with others, and assess your progress.
Maintain a Unified Voice. Everything you say in social media or on your blog should “sound” like your brand. Every interaction with your audience must be created and managed with care. You have a responsibility to not let the voice of your brand change on whim or appear sloppy or inconsistent. If you have more than one person writing your social media posts, it is often helpful to have a set of guidelines and standards to keep all writers on the same path. You may also want to run all posts through a single reviewer, at least until writers have established a “feel” for the desired messaging.
The sad truth is a lot of companies abandon their social media platforms. They launch a Facebook page or Twitter account, make a couple posts in the first month or so, and then the account is forgotten. Remember, the path to a consistent message is not a complicated one. It is within the grasp of any business, large or small. However, it does require time, effort, and most importantly insight. You must do the upfront work of defining what your business is and does, researching who your customers are and what they want, thinking through and solidifying a strategy, and implementing the structure necessary to unify your voice. Trying to move forward without this work will make it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve consistency of content. Consistently posting content on the appropriate social media platforms, keeping a consistent voice, and engaging on a consistent basis with your audience will improve your company’s reputation, credibility, and customer relations.
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If you don’t have the time to take care of your social media account, you have two options: either remove your social media accounts from the internet or delegate management of your social media to someone else inside or outside your business. Inspire Marketing can help bring constancy to your social media marketing. Visit our website to find out more about specific services to address these needs or call Wade (317-683-7578, Ext 707) with any questions you may have.
