Social media may be the buzziest of all buzz phrases in marketing over the last 24 months, but the idea of diving headlong into the social media pool can inspire fear. Why? The vastness of social media, seemingly endlessness variety of tools and channels, 24×7 rapid-fire pace of communication…and the fact that everyone, yes everyone, has a microphone make it intimidating.
If you’re considering exploring social media as a way to grow your company’s presence, we suggest the exploring the following items as a way to start swimming in the social pond, without the anxiety of doing a belly flop.
- Develop a strategy. Yep, this one is so logical that you wouldn’t think we even need to include it! But, the lure of social media and the benefits it can offer tempt many folks into setting up Twitter accounts, corporate pages on Facebook, blogs and more without the slightest thought to how these tools will integrate with current marketing…and who will maintain them. Before launching anything, road map your goals, resources and initiatives – and then think of how social media can complement them.
- Start by listening. No one likes the guy (or girl) at the party that talks endlessly about how great he (or she) is. Extrapolate this scenario to social media. Once your strategy is in place, subscribe to industry-specific blogs, RSS feeds and groups on LinkedIn. Pay attention to the conversations before participating so you can make more meaningful contributions.
- Alert yourself to relevant conversations. One of our favorite tools is Google Alerts. You need nothing more than a validated email address with Google to get started. From there, enter key phrases and words that you’d like to track online. Obvious ones include: brand name, c-level executives, competitors and relevant key phrases. You can control the pace of the email alerts so you aren’t overwhelmed by emails and notifications.
- Make it manageable. Maybe you have fantastic information to share, but you don’t have the buy-in from management or the resources to launch your own blog. Rather than throw in the social media towel, consider reaching out to peers who maintain established blogs and ask if they accept guest posts. If your content is informative, well-written and relatively unbiased, chances are, you’ll find a home for that post.
- Think double-duty. Developing a social media presence requires generating information that readers find interesting and useful. But, writing truly compelling content takes time, so how do you reconcile this challenge? Create a content generation strategy that utilizes what you already have…and calls for the development of pieces that can be used in many ways. For example, if you are developing a white paper, consider making the tone breezier and breaking it into 2-4 blog posts. Those blog posts can be tweeted, added to LinkedIn, used in email signatures and more.
Need a little social hand-holding? That’s cool – just give us a call or email.
The post Feeling Social (Media) Anxiety? Tips for Success appeared first on BlueRiot.
