Social Media Best Practice

What you need to know

Social media channels

Social Media

Facebook

Soundcloud

Pinterest

Youtube

and more…

Wordpress

Twitter

LinkedIn

Set your objectives first

• Decide what you want to achieve with Social Media in order to set realistic objectives from the start.

• Whether it’s brand awareness or increased website traffic, make sure your objectives are:– Specific– Measurable– Achievable– Realistic– Time scaled

Integrated Strategy• Social Media achieves the best results when used as

part of a wider integrated marketing strategy. • An integrated marketing strategy is where the

different marketing channels you adopt work together to deliver your core messages in a similar tone, creating a seamless experience for the end user.

Top tip: Social Media shouldn’t be relied upon as your sole marketing tool or your marketing mix will become unbalanced.

Profiling

• Profile your target audiences and get to know their preference's.

• Research which Social Media channel(s) is most effective at enabling your message to reach your intended audience.

Top tip: Look to the future and consider broader audiences. Cultivate potential future customer relationships by reaching out beyond your ‘base’.

‘Content is king’

• Generate content people want to engage with; think about what you would like to read about – original, desirable, interesting etc.

• Content must be rich, relevant and varied but try not to push your brand all the time as this will turn people away.

Top tip: Aim to establish your company as an expert in its field.

Copyright

• Make sure you are aware of what constitutes copyright infringement.

• Don’t copy content and attempt to pass it off as your own.

Top tip: When using external content, seek permission or reference the source (depending on the context).

Messaging

• Set clear messaging guidelines and stick to them.• Define what key aspects of your brand you want to

promote and what story you want to tell.

Top tip: Consistent messaging across all Social Media Channels is vital to accentuate the positives of your brand. Don’t send mixed messages.

Social Media Etiquette• The golden rule of Social Media etiquette is ‘don’t write

anything on a Social Media Channel that you wouldn’t say in everyday conversation’.

• It’s vital to remember that you are representing your brand and everything you say could potentially be seen by thousands of people.

• Be gracious to your influencers. Your influencers could enable you to get your messaging spread much further so share their content and thank when yours is shared.

Top tip: Seize opportunities to start conversations or debates but don’t be controversial.

Engagement

• If you allow accounts to lie dormant for long periods of time it sends out a negative message about your company.

• Follow the ‘Three P’s of Social Media engagement: respond Promptly, Politely and Personally.

Top tip: You may be too busy to keep social media channels updated, but potential customers perceive online inactivity as business failure. If you don’t have time to update your Social Media channels, consider outsourcing your Social Media Management.

Measure Performance

• If you don’t measure results, how do you know what is effective?

• Measuring Social Media engagement allows you to see where to concentrate your resources and indicates what types of content are the most popular and are achieving the highest levels of engagement.

Top tip: Use Social Media Management software such as ‘Hootsuite’ to measure your Social Media channels performance.

Stay Focused

• Monitor trends constantly.• Social Media is fast-moving; channels rise and fall

and user expectations evolve.• Channels themselves change frequently. Be aware of

channel changes or updates and use them to your advantage.

Top tip: Listen. Social Media engagement isn’t a one-way street. What do followers want to hear about? Keep your eyes and ears open!

If you would like to find out more about making your marketing activities work as hard as possible for you,

visit www.RevMarketing.co.uk today to start your journey to a more evolved marketing

approach.

Evolve with Rev Marketing