1. Be consistent
As a consumer of either tangible goods, information, technology or services you never want to be left with more questions before you even start buying, ordering, learning, etc. As a brand it is important to have a pattern. Whether that is posting a video every Friday or announcing online sales at the start of each month, it is imperative that constancy is part of your overall digital marketing plan. Obviously last minute updates and stories happen and are the foundation of great content but it’s calming for followers to know that each Tuesday they can go to your website and enter a sweepstakes and then come back on Saturday to see if they were the winner.
2. Be consistent with frequency
In conjunction with tip numero uno, frequency has become abused by many brand in the social arena. Posting content is a no brainer but posting a handful of posts at 9am and then not posting again until the next month is not going to get your following to grow. When posting content each social media platform has it’s own unwritten etiquette rules (I have personal status-update limits for most social media platforms. Comment if you would like more information of what I use as my “rule of thumb”) so respect your fans and update across all platforms at an evenly pace every day!
3. Dialogue > Monologue
One of the greatest gifts of using social media is free feedback. Whether it is positive or negative feedback is important for brand definition and growth. By shifting your social media chatter from a monologue where you produce content and never look back, into a dialogue where you answer questions, jump in on conversations and be the go-to source for your followers is the very best way to build follower trust and brand appreciation.
4. “I am not sure but I will find out for you” is an OK answer
Faking it until you make it is like throwing an interception in the social media arena. No one can know everything and partners/customers/consumers know this. We are all human and all know a great deal of information about specific “things”. Build your brand’s team well so that each part of the team focuses and has background in different areas. This allows you to tell those followers that even if you don’t know the answer/solution at that time you know someone who can give them accurate feedback ASAP.
5. Have a plan
Have meaning behind your social plan of action. Don’t jump into an empty pool head first. Do research, figure out where your target audience is online and approach reaching them in an organized and well-thought out way. Not everyone will be successful on Twitter or Pinterest so don’t assume you or your brand need to be on over 100 social media platforms because that is what “everyone else” is doing. Your time and your customer’s time is precious… don’t waste it due to poor planning.
But…
6. Don’t be afraid of change
Social media, digital marketing, social strategy and social networks change on a second-by-second basis. Don’t be afraid of the change, embrace it. There is reason to every change on social platforms whether you and your fans see it or not. Facebook didn’t create timeline because they didn’t have anything else going on over there. If the layout, the rules or the features change take a step back and see how these alterations can help you tackle your communication and marketing objectives.
7. Spend 1-2 hours on social media blogs a day
Read. Learn. Grow. Experiment. Study. Explore. I take about two hours a day (usually during my lengthy commute in the morning) to read-up on a number of blogs that I like. Some are social media and technology based and others are current events, celebrity gossip and sports news. I work in social media and sports and I like to know what actress is dating what athlete so these make sense for me. I like knowing what is going on before most other people and reading every morning is the way I do that.
Blogs I read: Mashable, Tech Crunch, Fast Company, ESPN, NFL (@RapSheet you caught me… I read you), Perez (don’t judge), CNN and the Blog Squad (NBA). I also run Google alerts on “sports,” “social media” and run the key words through a Hootsuite column I made.
8. Use platforms in unique ways
Be creative. Even the engineers behind social platforms haven’t seen it all. See how a platform and its tools can help you carry out your already existing digital marketing plan. What would YOUR fans like to see? How can your product/brand be a case study for success on a platform? Sub-Tip: Outreaching the company; Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc., is always a good way to get advice.
9. Take tips from top brands
A few of my favorite brands on social media are Old Spice (YouTube), Oreo (Facebook), Lady Gaga (Google+), Microsoft (Blog and Twitter), Nike (Twitter) and the NFL (Google+). These brands are powerhouses on the digital cul de sac. They each have had their moments in the spotlight either by offering unique content, doing never-before-seen things on ever day platforms or have used cross promoting and common voice to create a blanket effect of easy-to-understand messages to fans.
10. Cross promote
Be sure that you cross promote your social media platforms with one another. Make your website or blog be the hub to house all of your official social media pages and then see what platforms are the most popular and promote content to your other sites. Be sure to update buttons/logos/graphics of social media platforms so your site has the most up-to-date information. (If you still have the old Twitter bird change that ASAP… people notice this stuff!)
11. Be the “expert” in your area
I use the word “expert” carefully because I truly believe no one is an expert but for your brand you NEED to be. Be the voice of your brand on social media. Make sure that you are the one that gets the news out first and gets the facts right about your brand. People will always continue to talk so if your social media objective is to be the first-person source for all things (your brand), you are giving yourself a great head start to becoming the place where people go first for information/updates/news. This also allows people to start trusting the voice of your brand which is vital for word-of-mouth marketing. This deals both with negative and positive information. Going quiet during troubled times and letting other people become the “expert” in your area is not the way to grow a brand. It actually will do the opposite.
12. It’s OK to give FREE advice
Don’t be territorial. No one owns the internet. We are all parts of a very large and evolving machine and we all need some help here and there. The best way to go from good to great in social media marketing is to help others at anytime and with no strings attached. Doing this allows you to see struggles and successes of other brands in which you can use in your everyday work. The people in social media marketing are a great group and with forums, blogs, seminars and round tables a lot of questions can be answered and a lot of uncharted territory can be sailed. Be open to giving advice and be open to doing it for the greater good of the industry. Don’t expect anything back but let me make it known that down the road when you need some help or advice you will be happy you helped out that one time.
Tweek: (n) A geek that likes to tweet 