InfoLab21

Andrew Greyner runs Raise the Roof Marketing, specialising in digital marketing techniques. Previously he was Head of Marketing and IT for Business Link Northwest. He is a Fellow of The Institute of Direct Marketing, a Member of the Institute of Mathematics, a North West Regional Board member for the CIM, and is a regular conference speaker and Guest University Lecturer. Andrew was a guest speaker at InfoLab21's recent workshop programme in Social Media Technologies.

The number of registered Social Media users is still going up rapidly and the potential audience is immense.

Many businesses' initial thoughts centre around promoting their products and services by posting messages about benefits and letting people know how and where to purchase. The problem with this approach is in blindly broadcasting to an audience which may have no interest in what you can offer.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't tell people about your business but there are a few other things to do first which will help you engage with the right audience and increase your chances of being 'heard' online.

1. Listening
   Use the different platforms to listen to what people are saying about your industry and/or your organisation. See if anyone mentions your business directly and respond. By doing this you can immediately identify people with an interest in what you are offering. Just think of the platforms as a free to use market research tool.
2. Get your brand name out there
   While social media platforms aren't the place to just shout about your products and push for a sale there is certainly no harm in getting your business or brand name noticed. Mention it in conversation, make sure your username is distinctive and ideally use your business name. The more you get stuck in the more likely it is that someone will stumble across one of your posts, messages or tweets.
3. Integrate social media into your marketing strategy
   One thing that is often ignored is that social media shouldn't be looked at in isolation. It should be part of an overarching marketing strategy and fit in neatly with other marketing activities. Coherence is key as you don't want people to get mixed messages about your products or services through different marketing channels.
4. Track and Monitor
   The one area that is often overlooked is the tracking and monitoring of the effectiveness of all your Social Media efforts. It is not enough just to look at the number of followers on Twitter or the number of likes on Facebook, but it is the amount of engagement between these followers and your organisation that is important. For example with Twitter - how many mentions are you getting, how many re-tweets do your tweets get and how many direct conversations are you having?

If you already have a marketing strategy make sure you properly integrate your social media activities. Here are some simple steps you should take:

5. Don't start putting all your efforts into social media. It should be part of your marketing strategy, not a replacement for it.
6. Plan what you are going to do. It is tempting just to jump in and get started but as with all other marketing activities you should plan properly before going ahead.
7. Take as much care as you would with all other marketing communications. Social media is instant and any mistakes can be seen immediately. While social media communication may seem more relaxed than traditional marketing, bad spelling or formatting still makes you look unprofessional and can damage your reputation.
8. Be consistent. Use the same messaging and communicate the same brand values that you do offline or across other marketing channels.
9. Measure your success. Check if your social media efforts have an impact on business performance.
10. Monitor all mentions of your products/services on the web with tools such as Hootsuite.com, Tweetdeck.com

Do you agree with these tips? Please add your thoughts below.

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Tue 27 March 2012

Associated Links

• Raise The Roof Marketing - Website