If you’re in charge of social media
management for your company, it’s time to up your game in 2014. It
requires more than the random postings about your great sale, latest
product or a shameless plug in the local paper. Social media marketing
is easily a full-time job, and for good reason. Here are 20 ways to
optimize your social media strategy in 2014 and beyond.
1. Choose the right platform
There are hundreds of social media platforms, which means there are many options beyond Facebook, Google +, Twitter ,
Instagram and YouTube. Take some time to see which platforms are best
for your business and limit them to five max. No full-time employee has
time to manage anything more, and you may find you’re a better fit for
an underdog platform than Pinterest.
2. Use analytics
There are also hundreds of tools to
analyze your social media
campaign success and failures. Use them. Many are free and part of the
site itself, while others provide a third-party analysis. Don’t just
collect reports; read them, translate them and turn them into action.
3. Post timely
Know the best days and times to post for your industry and
demographics. For many businesses, this is Monday through Friday at
around 10am and 4pm. However, this will vary depending on who you’re
targeting. Do your research.
4. Build a relationship
Don’t just preach at your audience, but engage them, get them
involved and always promptly reply to outreach. Social media isn’t a
soapbox, but a tool for engagement. It’s a two-way street.
5. Use images
People are becoming more attracted to images such as infographics or
easily digestible videos like those on Vine. Make use of color, but
don’t overdo it. If you make a video, make sure it’s professional and high quality.
6. Make social media special
Offer truly desirable things like discounts and giveaways solely to
people who follow you on social media. They should be getting something
out of being your fan or liking your page.
7. Only bite off as much as you can chew
It’s all about quality, not quantity, and there’s no point joining every site that pops up just to spread yourself too thin. Choose your best social media matches and give them the attention they deserve.
8. Don’t treat it like a personal site
Just because you have 1,000 Facebook friends on your personal site
and they always like your inspirational posts doesn’t mean you’ll
succeed as a business poster. These are two entirely different arenas,
so respect the difference.
9. Hire a social media manager
In an ideal world, you’ll make room in the budget to hire an
experienced social media manager full-time. They can work magic and in a
fraction of the time anyone else can. It’s a real job (and deserves a real salary).
10. Know when to call it quits
If you’re just not performing well on a particular site no matter
who’s to blame, know when to end it. Just like any other bad
relationship, nobody is benefiting from dragging it out. Fix it or quit
it, but make a choice.
11. Build business alliances
Figure out other businesses that complement yours but aren’t direct
competitors and show them some love on social media. You’re all in this
together, and you never know when you could use an ally.
12. Don’t entertain the trolls
Once your social media following gets big enough,
you’ll have a few trolls
and baiters. Handle them professionally, and know when to publicly
respond, when to let it go, and when to delete their comments. Each
action has a time and place.
13. Don’t sync your phone
If you’re still the one overseeing social media for the business, it
can easily turn into a 24/7 project. Don’t let it. Don’t sync your
business social media sites to your phone, unless it’s a business-only
phone that’s turned off at a certain hour. Taking work home with you is
never healthy.
14. Don’t use it as a sales platform
It’s pretty obvious why a business is on social media: To improve
sales, whether directly or through building customer relationships
(which will hopefully lead to more sales). However, this isn’t a direct
sales platform so don’t treat it that way. Instead, foster relationships
and provide information or entertainment for free.
15. Flesh out your profile
Fill out every possible corner of your profile, whether it’s the
brief requirements of Google+ or the massive ones of MySpace. This is
where your business’ personality is developed and it’s important for brand reputation and management.
16. Build social media into your business plan
Whether you’re a startup or a solid corporation, you should still
have a business plan in place for growth. Implement social media into it
and set goals for different time periods. This is how you’ll see if
social media is worth it for you.
17. Make fans want to see your posts
This seemingly simple advice is the toughest. What would you want to
see as a fan or friend? Find “sticky” posts that have viral potential
and people want to share.
18. Make it easy to share
Along with number 17, make it as easy to share your posts as possible. Link them to a landing page on your website,
another social media site (Facebook and YouTube play together nicely)
or your blog. If it’s easy for someone to just click and share, they’re
more likely to do so.
19. Strike a personal/professional balance
You don’t want to get too personal, but you don’t want to seem
stiffly professional either. This is a precarious balance to strike, but
when done well, makes fans think they “know you” in the right way.
Don’t let emotions get the best of you and save that for your personal
site.
20. Grammar matters
Check, double check, and have someone else check each and every
things you put on social media. An embarrassing typo can cause a world
of hurt and is easily avoidable. Have you ever left the “L” out of
“public service?” Some guffaws are just too easy.
