Forbes posted and article written by Ric Dragon, an expert on online marketing, about the best ways that a business can use its social media. Here is our summarized version of the article.
1. Focus on desired outcome first
Figure out what your “platform” is. Is it to increase brand awareness, lead generation, service and support, management? And make sure you focus on it. Pick one or two
2. Incorporate brand personality and voice
Make sure that all team members that administer your social media use the same voice. Customers these days want a “humanized” voice.
Ex: NPR has a twitter account called “today in 1960″ that tweets headlines from the corresponding day in 1960. How unique is that?!
3. Find the smallest segments of your constituents
Dont make your tweets, Facebook posts or what have you so general. Try to create a community that will engage with you and feels a connection with your company.
Here’s an example, Lady Gaga refers to her fans on twitter as “Little Monsters” and she is “Mother Monster.”Of course we do not suggest you calling your customers this, but you get the idea.
4. Identify the communities for these micro-segments
This aligns a lot with number 3. The best communities become your best advocates.
5. Identify the influencers of these communities
In the generation of social media, feedback is immediate compared to the old days of waiting months for results. Use this to your advantage and spend those months “influencing the influencers”
6. Create an action plan with metrics
Create a plan that aligns with your goals. The most common/useful plans include a listening plan, channel plan, SEO plan etc. Also make sure that you are using social media to build relationships and to start conversations.
7. Iteratively execute and measure results
You cannot expect to get the results you want immediately. So you have to make sure to tweak and adjust your plans according to the results you get. And its not something you do once.