Social media is a huge topic. It can be heavy, constantly changing, confusing and conflicting from one source to another. You are likely to read one bit of advice today, and the totally opposite advice tomorrow from ‘experts’. The reality is – no one knows for sure the deal with social. Even the executive strategy team at Facebook and Pinterest aren’t going to know what will happen a year from now – because in many ways, the future of each platform belongs to the community that uses it.
Back in 2013 I researched, wrote and published a Dissertation on Social Media Strategy. I conducted primary research in the pet industry in the U.S. on the how these companies were using social media as a tool for growth, and how the compared that to ‘marketing theory’. It was pretty cutting-edge stuff at the time [there was tons of theory, but no one was really writing research papers based on how companies were ACTUALLY USING social media].
Subsequently, I was invited to present this work at two prestigious marketing conferences in the UK & France [but I was busy getting married so my Advisor and wonderful Marketing Strategy professor delivered them.] Cool eh? Well, many of the nitty-gritty details in that paper just are not relevant anymore [like Facebook’s ‘edge rank’] but there are some core themes that still apply, which I am going to summarize here.
You can definitely go right or go wrong using social media as a part of your daily routine or marketing strategy. Today I am going to cram 187 pages of boring academic language, a Master’s degree, 10+ years of practical experience and thousands of other expert social resources into 5 Social Roles social media should play in your business. This is the ‘Why’ of social media – and a little bit of ‘How’ too.
5 Social Roles
- Brand Building
- Client Discovery
- Relationship Building
- Customer Service
- Advertising
1. Brand Building
When you’re new, or haven’t really invested in marketing for your business, you have to go through a long process of creating ‘brand awareness’. Basically, you need people to know you exist! But more than that, you want peoples’ first, second and third impression of you to be positive. Social media offers great opportunities to create or participate in organic conversations about your ‘why’ [what you stand for] – which allows for logical and welcome follow-up with your ‘what’ [what you sell] in a way that is not cringy or salesy [which is an immediate turn-off in a space that is supposed to be ‘friendly’ and social].
When you create a ‘space’ for your business on a social platform – think first about operating in a very ‘human’ way – and second about what your brand wants to be known for and give that away through the content you share, the conversations you have and the value you add to the space. Also, be sure to consider these three v’s when putting together your content calendar:
Voice.
You want your voice to have a strong and consistent voice. Go ‘conversational’ and real over ‘professional’ – people want to feel your humanness through your posts/tweets/photos. Especially if you delegate some of your social media stuff, make sure it all sounds consistently like the brand. Are you funny? Irreverent? Are there things you do or do not say? What kind of words do you use? Do you capitalize? Do you speak like the dog? Do you speak just to women? Get clear on this one ASAP!
Visuals.
This may the MOST important part of your social marketing strategy:
“when content is paired with images, it receives 94% more views than content without relevant images. Think beyond stock photos and consider using memes and gifs with your content. Using graphics may seem like an open palm, place against forehead suggestion, but I’m always surprised at how many posts on social are missing such an important element” – Marketo
Have a look at the Brand Guidelines article if you need help with this one. Don’t settle for generic here – this is one of the primary ways you have to be memorable and to stand out! Don’t forget VIDEO!!
“Cisco reports that by 2019, video will account for 80% of global internet traffic, with nearly a million minutes of video being shared every second.” – Marketo
2. Client Discovery
Social media platforms are incredible databases of potential clients – all categorized and searchable by interest, location, age, gender, politics, values etc. The list of ways social media is highly targeted goes on and on, but the bottom line for you – is that these platforms can be an INCREDIBLE way to identify new leads for that sales funnel. Step 3. Relationship Building is where we engage with these leads, but we must first identify who might want to hear from us; here’s a few ways you can use social to find new customers:
Facebook.
We will talk at great length about Facebook – but here are three easy ways to identify future clients on the social network.
Groups: Join Facebook Groups that are full of your clients. Interest groups [breeds, cities, interests]. Easy! Don’t start selling right away either, move straight on to providing value – give give give!
Audience: When you place ads on Facebook there are extensive ways to target potential clients based on age, location, interest, online habits, who else they know/like etc. This is a huge part of what makes advertising on Facebook so effective.
Friend of existing Clients: Although less direct [you’re unlikely to ‘add them to a list’ like you can in Twitter] when you tag your clients in content [especially great if they send you photos!] their friends will see you and have immediate affinity with you.
Twitter.
Search bios – most people say who they are, what they’re into [and whether or not they are a dog parent!] in their bio- then add them to a list, like ‘cool dog dads’. A great tool called ‘Follower Wonk’ can help make this process easy. Be sure also to check out this article for Petpreneurs on finding leads on Twitter.
Hashtags.
These little babies are AMAZING for finding potential clients for the obvious reason that you can search a particular interest or topic and get hundreds of thousands of people who are so interested in that topic that they’ve posted and tagged their own content on the subject. Check out these results:
#dogparent on instagram
#dogdad and #dogmom in ‘Accounts’ on twitter
Sell to B2B? Even better! Most business use hashtags like #dogwalker or #dogbiz when they post their own content!
Quiz.
A wonderful way to create a list [and even segment it at the same time] is to run a quiz and promote it on social. This can easily become one of your most popular lead acquisition tools! Check out Qzzr to help build & embed a quiz. Just remember – you want the quiz to have SOMETHING to do with what you’re an expert in [so you’re attracting people who might become clients!]
3. Relationship Building
Most social media platforms are fundamentally set up to create community. If you’re investing in building a brand [not just a business], than opportunities to create community should be welcomed with open arms. Better still, you don’t have to go out and find the venue and get people there – they are already at the party – you just have to SHOW UP and be FUN [not the annoying guy trying to sell to everyone when they’re just trying to enjoy a bit of conversation].
This is the real art of social media – genuinely building relationships vs. pretending to care. This can be difficult, especially as your audience grows, it’s hard to prioritize chatting or engaging in social when there are so many other demands for your time. Here are some ways you can get the most out of your investment in ‘relationship building’ on social
Go Live!
Faster than writing content, more engaging than posting photos – live-streaming video on social media can be a ridiculously easy, effective way to build ‘know like and trust’ with your audience. Give them a ‘behind the scenes’ look at your biz, or let them join you on a beautiful dog walk, or just sit at your desk and share some insight or philosophy or some little inspirational moment – answer questions, show how your products are made… there are a MILLION options that all do wonders for relationship-building. Just remember, you’ll have to be consistent. One video ever isn’t going to do it – consider a weekly or bi-weekly ‘spot’ when people know you’ll be LIVE. Then they can plan to show-up! Not keen on video? Try a LIVE chat instead [just typing instead of video].
Contests & Challenges.
Creating contests or a 7 or 10 day challenge works wonders to get your community engage – while also helping solve problems – empowering people to make changes – or raising awareness for a topic, cause or product. Plus, you can usually get a boost to your email list as they’ll have to give it to you in order to participate! Check out softwares like Woobox to make it easier to implement your contest [add social sharing, host it on FB, allow for ‘voting’ etc.]
4. Customer Service
One of the great realizations I had when I started researching social media – was just how important these social platforms are for customer service. Have you ever received a tweet or a Facebook message from a customer? Have you ever tweeted a company when you couldn’t reach them by phone or email?I have, and I’m usually not very happy when I do – so I am definitely expecting a quick response!
When we do our best to reduce friction for our clients, we want to be available to them in whatever way they want and need us to be available! Now, it’s important to balance this with our resources and boundaries [no, you should not be corresponding with any clients at 10pm, on any platform, although your clients won’t always respect these boundaries – they’re probably not expecting you to respond until normal business hours!]
Social media can be a very easy, effective place to help your customers with whatever it is they need – so be sure to communicate where, when and how you’re available. You may find that customers are already out there looking for you in the social space and you’re just not answering them!
5. Advertising
If you have a limited budget for advertising, social media is without a doubt the place to spend it. Why? Because it is:
Measurable [built-in analytics]
Highly-targeted [reach just the people who are likely to be interested in you]
Affordable [you set your budget: make a huge impact for as little as $2 a day]
Easy [Most of these platforms make it super simple AND several provide phone support]
Constant [You don’t have to wait for the next issue or event]
Digital [Your people can click RIGHT THROUGH to your website]
If you’re new to social advertising, start with Facebook. To be fair, Facebook might be all you ever need!
One of the most beneficial aspects of Advertising on Facebook is Remarketing.
Remarketing
Remarketing is the ability to display ads to people who have previously been to your website. This is an absolute MUST in digital marketing! If people have been to your site once, think of how much MORE likely they are to be interested in you than a total stranger!? Plus, it makes it so much MORE worthwhile to drive traffic to your website… Even if they just read an article and clicked away – you now have the ability to potentially convert them later!
You have probably experienced remarketing in action, when you’ve visited a website and then all of a sudden their ads are popping up everywhere you go online and in your side bar in Facebook? Basically, it’s just a little bit of code that tracks your movements online.
[This isn’t just Facebook, you can also do this with Google Network, which is how those ads pop up everywhere online!]
DO THIS RIGHT NOW:
If you have a Facebook Page for your business, install the ‘Facebook Pixel’ into your website. Even if you’re not ready to advertise now, when you are, you’ll be able to choose an audience based on people who have visited your site in the past.
If you do not have a Facebook Page for your business, start one. Then install the pixel!
We’ll go into more depth about Facebook ads – but if you can’t wait, there are no shortage of great resources online – including Facebook themselves! They will get on the phone with you and walk you through your ad campaigns – share ‘best practices’ etc.