How Do You Use Social Media? Part 2
In Part 1 we considered ways of using social media effectively as part of your marketing plan. Here are a few more suggestions for you to consider.
1. Measurement is still key
Marketers have always been challenged to provide measurement of ROI of all marketing activities, and social media is no exception. Measurement can be driven down to each social media site and activity, allowing you to make educated decisions about future marketing activities. Whilst it can be difficult to measure exact expense versus sales, you must approach the activity as you would a traditional advertising campaign ? what it is costing you (your time is a cost); against the returns you are seeing from it.
- Do you have a mobile strategy?
We are moving ever closer to the day the mobile web dominates B2B website traffic. Social media gives the ideal platform for viewing on a mobile, and your business needs to develop a mobile strategy so you can move forward with your customers. Your mobile strategy is one part of your overall marketing plan, and should be integrated with your social media plan too for maximum effectiveness.
- Understand how to use social media sites differently
LinkedIn and Twitter are both effective communication channels for B2B companies, but need to be approached separately. Twitter is predominantly a news-feed ? your tweet content must reflect this, use news or tips to educate and inform your audience. LinkedIn can include thought-leadership information in a longer format ? use updates with teaser lines to blogs or white papers which are valuable for this audience. Using the question function in LinkedIn also gives a great platform for communication with your target audience, but again be careful about the information you are imparting, it is not a promotion platform.
- Social Media needs to be integrated
At the risk of becoming obsessive, I cannot stress enough how social media activity must be part of your integrated marketing activities. Using social media is a key component of your marketing mix, if it is part of a coordinated plan to improve your results.
Let us know how you are using social media in your business, and whether you think it is still growing or has reached its peak.
