As much as we love social media at Social Media Solutions, it’s important to understand that social media by itself is not a be-all, end-all solution. It’s a valuable tool to work into a bigger picture marketing plan. That’s why integrating social media into other marketing and public relations activities is so important.
When you come up with a marketing/advertising campaign, you have a “big idea.” Your social media efforts should still play into that “big idea” in order to present a united, cohesive message that allows for the greatest amount of top-of-mind awareness, brand engagement, and ROI.
Because social media is an interactive platform, some companies may struggle with turning their “big idea” from a mass communication tactics into personal relationships with customers. Here are a few things to keep in mind when integrating social media with other parts of your campaign.
Brand awareness
Many smaller companies first begin using social media in order to get their name out there. Simply creating an account won’t do this, but if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to seek out potential customers and to regularly post content, social media can help increase brand awareness.
Brand personality
Again, only creating an account won’t help you showcase your brands personality. If you are creative and conversational with your content, customers begin relating to you in a more personal way. It is the beginning of evolving from a brand and customer to an interactive, growing relationship.
Brand engagement
The above things involve what you put out. Brand engagement is about what you’re pulling back in. The goal of social media is to get your customers involved with your brand to create loyalty, goodwill, improved product offerings as a result of feedback, and ultimately, to create positive ROI.
Why social media works best within a larger campaign:
Ideas breed passion
People get fired up about ideas, not necessarily products. By doing the above three things, you can get people talking about what your brand represents, issues in your brand’s industry, and become a source of information and innovation with your customers. If your social media channels revolve solely around a product, its uses, and benefits, you may attract customers that are already loyal to you. To reach new markets, potential customers need a reason to come to you in the first place. Generating ideas and conversations about things other than your specific product or service can become that entry point for new customers. Many times those ideas can stem out of the “big idea” from a larger campaign. As your campaign evolves and grows, so will your social media.
Casual social media users
People involve themselves with social media at different levels. Casual social media users may simply logon to see what friends and family are doing. It may not occur to them to search out your brand, and you don’t have enough time to search through 400 million Facebook users to find them. Other forms of marketing and advertising can help them realize you’re on social media sites and move them from occasionally being on the receiving end of your message to becoming actively involved in your conversation.
Face-to-face interaction
Social media allows us to communicate and interact in an entirely different way, but it still doesn’t squash our desire to physically be around people. Combining social media with sponsored events can solidify loyalty, increase PR activity, create goodwill, and create a higher ROI. Social media can help build excitement about an event and keep that enthusiasm going after the event is over.
A last word: Nothing sells itself. Just creating a social media profile won’t do anything for your company. Spend time and effort reaching out to people and encouraging them to respond back to you. Use social media to take your marketing to the next level.
Shameless plug: This is a company blog, so you had to know it was coming. In an ideal world, we’d all be social media savvy, but in reality, it can be hard to discover the best ways to tie everything together. If you need help figuring it all out, we’re here for you.