Whether
you’re diving into social media, digital advertising, or any other new
marketing tactic, it’s important to consider purpose and budget prior to making
a commitment. Marketing budgets are
growing smaller and smaller forcing marketing professionals to do more with
less. Social media is a popular
marketing tactic because most platforms are free to use and they include at
least minimal metrics. Free to use
doesn’t mean no cost. Social media still requires a great deal of staff time
and strategy in order to make it successful.
Prior to jumping on the latest social network it is important to
consider which platform customers are currently using, what platform best
aligns with company goals, and what kind of budget needs to be allocated for
strategy and management.
Identifying
the “right” platforms
Customers
Social media is by definition a social tool, so you want to
make sure that the platforms selected are the ones utilized by current or
perspective customers. Each social
platform dictates how a company is able to communicate with customers and how
frequently that may happen. For example,
Facebook has great user metrics, but their algorithm may prevent users from
actually seeing a company’s content.
Some studies estimate only 5% of a company’s fans will see posts from that
company on their newsfeed (Frances, 2014).
It can be very beneficial to create a customer profile
prior to setting up social media accounts. Social Media Today (2014) says these
profiles should include (at a minimum) age, gender, income bracket, and buying
habits. Looking at customer information
and comparing that to social media characteristics can help determine which
platform might offer the company the best start.
Company goals
After identifying which platforms are being utilized by
customers, the next step is to determine company goals. Would the company like to listen to what
customers are saying about their company and be able to quickly respond? Would
the company prefer to utilize the ad feature of the social platform in
conjunction with developing content?
Determining company goals prior to joining a social media platform will
help better align the purpose that drives the social platform with desired
company outcomes. This will also help in
the ROI justification of utilizing the social platform.
Common company goals include:
·
Increasing brand awareness
o
Idea for measurement: Klout
·
Increase traffic to a company web site or blog
o
Idea for measurement: Google Analytics
·
Increase conversion rates
o
Idea for measurement: Google Analytics
·
Increase subscriber lists
o
Idea for measurement: Unique URL builders or
Google Analytics
·
Listening to what customers are saying about a
company
o
Idea for measurement: If the sole purpose of a social
media account is to listen to what customers are saying about a company, it can
be evaluated without creating an account on a social media platform. Tools such as HashTracking and Tagboard will
allow companies to evaluate what their customers are saying without being on a
platform, specifically if they’re utilizing hashtags to generate conversation. These tools also serve as a great way to see
if/where current customers are talking about a company to better determine
which platform might be the most important.
For example, if fictituous company Awesome Marketing is developing a
social media strategy and their customers are already using #AwesomeMarketing,
a Tagboard search with the hashtag will display posts using that hashtag
across multiple platforms. If Awesome
Marketing analyzes this information and sees that 90% of the posts are coming
from Twitter - that would be a good place for them to begin their social
strategy.
Regardless of the company goal that social media helps to
achieve, it is important to understand how a company will measure that goal and
what success means.
After you’ve determined company goals and customer
information, analyzing the results can help determine which platform best fits
customer and company needs. Think of it
as a Venn Diagram - the intersection of where company goals meets consumer
habits can help identify the right social media platform or platforms. The Venn Diagram below shows a very basic
idea of what this could look like for a company and a customer group.
Budget
As previously mentioned, free to sign up doesn’t mean no
cost for your company. Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and more all require the cost of staff time and
energy in order to develop a strategy and grow a platform. Without the proper strategy and dedicated
staff time, social networks are unable to grow and support company goals.
There are a number of factors that contribute to the budget
needed to grow a social media platform and, again, it is based on company
goals. A few questions to ask include:
·
Will paid advertising be utilized?
o
What is the purpose of that paid advertising?
(Grow a subscriber base, promote an event or sale)
·
How many people will have access to this
account?
o
Will multiple people dedicate staff time and
require training to develop the strategy and maintain the sites?
·
How many sites will be needed to achieve goals?
o
Do any of the sites require a premium account?
·
Will money be allocated to social media
monitoring or aggregating sites?
o
Hootsuite, Sprout Social
There’s no quick-fix flow chart that can be used to identify
which social media platforms are going to be the best fit for a company. No one else can determine company goals,
culture, and resources. Each company
will find a different set of tools that will work best to help achieve their
goals. Don’t expect a shortcut – put in
the time and resources to best develop a strategy that will lead to company
success.
Examples
Seth Godin
Writer, marketer, and speaker Seth Godin utilizes a Twitter
account solely to tweet about his latest blog posts. There is a disclaimer on the site that
indicates tweets to that account will not be answered because Seth is “not on
Twitter.” The purpose of the account is
to tweet out his daily blog posts. Seth has also prohibited comments on his
blog. He uses social media to push
content, but not necessarily engage. His
Twitter account has more than 442,000 followers and he has had 17 books that
have been bestsellers around the world (Godin, 2015). This tact works for him, but it will not work
for every company.
Canon
Canon utilizes several different social media channels and
has multiple accounts on each channel.
Canon utilizes Facebook, Twitter (four accounts), Instagram, Youtube,
Vimeo, Linkedin, and a company forum.
Here are a few of the things they’re doing well across their channels.
·
Canon has a page on their Web site that shows
customers where they are on social media and how they utilize that platform. This page helps drive traffic to their social
platforms, but each platform has a very specific purpose. Their Web site provides customers with a clear
indication of what to expect from each platform or account.
·
They encourage user generated content
submissions on Facebook, which helps to drive engagement on the page and increases
the likelihood that content will show up in user’s newsfeeds. This includes a Canon Fan Photo of the Week
and weekly categories that drive users to their Instagram and Twitter accounts,
too.
·
Over all platforms Canon focuses on what users
create with their products and engage and support them through these
tactics. They release company
information as well, but focus on customer creativity and what their products
can do in a real-world setting.
Canon has developed an overarching theme and purpose for their
social media usage. Building
relationships, engaging customers, and support customers leads to increase
brand equity and trust between the customer and the company. This helps Canon create lasting customers and
top of mind awareness.
After a company has evaluated their customer habits,
business goals, and budget they can more easily determine what social networks
meet their needs. For a pro and con list of social media tools, check out this
Social Media Today article.
References:
Godin, S., (2015). Bio. Retrieved January 26, 2015 from http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/bio.asp
Frances, J., (2014, June 18). How do you choose the right
social media platform for your business? Social
Media Today. Retrieved from: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-do-you-choose-right-social-media-platform-your-business
