Increasingly, the conversations I have with the non-industrial and manufacturing companies on social media with questions like “What can Twitter do for my business” start – but: “OK, I’ve got a Twitter page – but how can I continue a little Offer to say: “I’m sure if I would not use a calendar of social media and the help of a few good tools, there are many days when I? even bother to get news of interest to all my social media sites.
While manufacturing companies increasingly enter the world of social media, some of whom I speak are addressed strategically. It is more than experimenting, and if they see no benefit, then they will start to take it seriously. For any successful business with social media, it must be drawn in the same manner in which all marketing communications initiative is considered.
Develop a strategy for determining the social media company social media content on your personality, you make your social media campaign effectively and keep your messages with a regularly updated calendar of social media. There are many ways to develop a calendar of social media, from simple (for those of us more right brain) are responsible for detailed and complex (for project managers true!) Here are some basics to start to help you.
Start with a strategy
The essence of social media requires more spontaneity and frequency of contact than the other, traditional forms of marketing communications, but that does not mean, should pay for the basic principles of sound marketing companies or other complex project. You need a strategy. Back to Marketing 101 and ask yourself these questions in relation to social media:
Who is your audience?
Where you are more likely to find them?
What goal (results) do you expect?
How do you measure your efforts?
After identifying your target audience (and there may be more potential customers only), you need to understand what sort of information they want to think of listening to your company. This is important to your strategy. You really put yourself in the minds of your target audience and reflect their needs – needs – problems – and how your company with them about what is important for them to communicate.
Create categories, ideas for future contributions to be home. For example, if you are a company’s industrial safety services for refineries, chemical plants, drilling and other industrial plants, your content categories include:
Safety Standards
How adequate safety management saves money
Security issues regulations
The legislation that the industry of your clients
News and new that would interest your audience
Safety equipment later
Outage management and adjustments
The list is endless! Think of it as a workbook and all content categories, a complete content of “ideas”. Since you are determined that all of these categories of some interest to your audience, you create messages to all of them in your calendar content (more details).
Determine your social “persona”
If you are serious about a unified brand image for your business are considered key to the “voice” and the prospect that they reflect your media social messages. Even if you have multiple people handling multiple accounts, it has a written policy regarding the content of your messages. In fact, if more than one person posting and blog content writing, this is essential.
You have to react to the first person “I” or collectively from a commercial point of view, more “we”?
What is the picture (photo) for your company be displayed on each location? The company logo or picture of the person, the “voice” of the company at this particular place?
Are your messages are strictly “on brand”? (? They are only with your own business) This is difficult to remove successfully, provided you have a huge global organization.Typically, a combination of “the brand”, industry news, which media for your business (books , webinars, trade shows, etc.) and a broader perspective of how the world is to make your company is working best.
Has the personality of your messages give a carefree and friendly and informative or serious?
Answer all these questions, then you keep all messages and replies to messages consistent.
Develop a “calendar of the conversation”
Conversation schedules to achieve several important objectives for social media marketing.
You make your campaign a proactive rather than reactive.
They reduce the stress that comes from the current question, “what shall we write now?”
They ensure responsibility for the ad.
They provide consistent display.
There is no magic formula for how often you should have something on every platform of social media post. For some – Facebook, for example – Outbreaks of news during the day can be a bit annoying as to limit the amount of news, what a person sees when they check their news feed.
Twitter, of course, can often – but you also need to consider if your target group most likely to consider Twitter. If your public works 8-5, Monday-Friday, it has no relevance to the news late at night or on weekends.
I heard it all when it comes to blogs. Some say a minimum of three posts per week. Others say, once a week is fine. I personally think that if your content has value and that’s really relevant, in general, you can use your blog, the more write better. To close a blog must have its own strategy. Unlike Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, a blog that you write more than a few sentences about the topic. A blog needs more time and more companies are recruiting effort.Many people from different departments, so that their blog will be dealt with issues from multiple perspectives (and not just marketing!) And the news regularly.
I can not stress enough how important the search for resources outside of your company for your messages of social media. Find websites and blogs that contain the same kind of content you wish to offer. Log on to set up for information by e-mail or RSS feed, so you will receive regular information on your desktop computer, for the tweets on Twitter, LinkedIn, the topics of discussion, blogs can be used to get pushed.
Once you have all the above done, it is time to create the schedule for the talks.
Here is a basic tool for doing this:
Use Excel (or Word, Excel, when you are called into question) and set up a spreadsheet – one for each month.
Create columns for:
Date
Weekday
Time
Content Category
Column for each platform for social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.)
If more than one person is a column indicating the person responsible
Think about it, about products for all types of content a month. Some topics will cover some more than others. You can judge the issues seem more “hot” will Analytics by through the month. For example, if your visitor if you put something on a theme pic, this is a sign that you are a little more article on this topic. Give your audience what they seem to want to hear.
Measure your success
You have already determined what you hope to achieve with your campaign in your social media strategy. Did I mention that “to win new customers,” would probably fall somewhere near the bottom of the list in terms of priorities, perhaps the biggest misconception about Social Media Marketing: The number one goal is to get new business. Of course, any company that invests in a marketing initiative, the ultimate goal of growing their business. However, social media marketing is different than any other type of marketing. It is social – it is about relationships There are many positive things that can occur as a result of networking, which does not necessarily lead to a sale, -. so open-minded, if you know how you decide to measures of success.
If you have a network of social media and the people in your network, build value for you personally feel, I guarantee you that eventually the new business. How long does it take to be determined by several factors. First, begin to assess the success of easily measurable objectives. Examples:
A percentage of the new “love” on your Facebook page.
A percentage of qualified new “followers” on your Twitter page. Only you can define “qualified.” My definition is a company that a potential client, strategic partner, influencer in the industry, potential suppliers, and sometimes – even a competitor. In this changing world of digital communications, the boundaries between the competitors blurring.Sometimes a competitor, a strategic partner are.
An increase in the number of visitors to your website – and even more visitors from certain accounts of social media.
An increase in the number of people to your newsletter or RSS feed Register to receive for your blog.
An increase in the number of comments you receive on your blog.
All the strategy and planning in the world can never truly authentic human moments when you or your ambassador of social media is present, and represents a real added value to someone. In the end it may spontaneous moments that really reflects the success of your social media efforts. But – as I said throughout my career marketing – if you’re not going to tell you where you go, how will you know when you get it? It is no different with social media. Plan for your success!