Success in Social Media is having a well-defined tactical plan of attack but rarely can you succeed based on this alone. Strategy is the tip of the sword and without it your tactics will probably fail. With that being said there are four important areas you should focus on when implementing any social media tactical campaign.
First – What is your Message? What is the purpose of the message? What is the reader supposed to do once they see your message? Is it simple and easy to understand? Does it take a long time to figure out what to do once the reader decides they want to act on it? Does it further your current marketing or sales cycle? What part of the overall cycle does this message address and satisfy? It needs to be clear and concise and to the point. It needs to cause an emotional response that gets the reader to perform an action. What is the response you are looking for from the message?
Second – What are the mediums you intend to use to convey the message? Social Media Geography is growing larger every day with new places and spaces to claim your real estate. My advice is to be careful here. Choose wisely. Realistically you can’t dedicate too many resources when starting out. You can always expand to other sites and places once the Monetize (# 4) portion is in place and giving you the expected return. Stick with the basics and those that may be specific to the types of customers you serve. The idea is to use the same message and spread it out across multiple mediums for maximum exposure and hopefully inbound capture and conversion. People will buy when they are ready to buy and having them know, like and trust you is how they try, buy, repeat and refer you. This is the goal of marketing and the hourglass philosophy of John Jantsch and Duct Tape Marketing.
Third – The importance of measurement. Measure everything. Social media is another tactic and should be measured and analyzed constantly. Use tools and analytics available from your vendors and providers or services like web trends, Google analytics. Etc. (some are pay others are free). Split your message and test it and don’t forget that just because its social media you shouldn’t ignore traditional marketing methods that have been successful since marketing became a discipline.
Fourth – Monetize. What is your definition of how it monetizes? For some it may be the sale for others it may be a goal like contributions or a certain level of social awareness. At the end of the day how does the message eventually convert to a sale? If not does it increase transaction velocity (quicker sales close cycle) or improve your social following and reputation? The definition of the sale has also changed with social media. It can now be defined as any transaction that creates a ripple economic effect for the institution involved in the message.
