Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?

Social Media – Is it right for my company?

Oct 28

Written by:
10/28/2011 12:45 PM

Social Media – Is it right for my company?

The first step when it comes to planning an effective social media strategy is to answer some questions. Should you be on Facebook? What about Twitter? Is LinkedIn right for our business? What about blogging? What about content management?

These are all great questions. They can’t be answered effectively until you’ve gone through the process of planning and research to find out what social media can do for you or your business. Your presence on social media will be more successful if you take some time to answer these following questions.

1. Should you be using social media?

The standard answer of “Everyone else is doing it, so should we” is not the answer. Take some time to plan and think about what you hope to gain by being involved. Is it awareness? Lead generation? Capturing emails for marketing and product information? Monitoring your brand or competition? Co-marketing with vendors, or customers? If you’re not sure, begin by doing some research. To get started I would recommend a book by Shama Kabani – The Zen of Social Media Marketing.

2. What are your specific goals for social media?

In defining your goals they should be both: short and long term. Is your goal to increase traffic to your website? A strategic social media marketing campaign can help accomplish those goals. Do you want to increase your brand’s awareness to your current customers as well as reach new prospects? You should have particular goals for short term campaigns (open houses, new product announcements, special offers, etc.), and you should have goals to increase your market share. It does take some advance work and planning.

3. How will you measure your efforts?

This is related to point number two, but this is where you can use tools that are on the web for you to measure your efforts. It's one thing to have a presence on some or all Social Media sites, it’s another to know how to measure the effectiveness of your specific goals and campaigns.

You should make a commitment to track your efforts on social media. This is where most organizations fall short in their implementation. You may want to be involved in Social Media, but you should define your goals, but if you aren’t willing to measure your success at some level, you are approaching it as a ready, fire, aim, which is sure to make you frustrated.

Here are a few tools that can help. Aweber – email opt-in email tracking and creation www.aweber.com, Google analytics – Web based tools for website activities - www.google.com/analytics Bitly – URL shortening tool enabling you to create links with visitor tracking for blogs, web content, etc. - https://bitly.com

4. Are you willing to maintain a social media presence?

Social media platforms are free, but your time isn’t. Allocating time and resources to your Social Media effort is just as important as the planning stage in step one. Look to your managers as well as employees who can contribute to both content and posting to lighten the load. Should you have just one department, or individual who has access to the accounts? Should you have a group, or committee to agree how your message is delivered? What is your budget for this effort? Should you employ a Social Media Manager?

Keep in mind that any effort you make will require some time. Plan about 20- 30 hours per month to spend on Social Media outlets, or about 15 minutes a day, per site. That is really just for time to post and respond. That will not include creation of programs, co-marketing efforts etc.

5. Is your website content current and up to date?

Your website is your home base. Social Media isn’t just about having Social Media icons on your website. The content on your site should always be up to date and current with what’s going on in your industry, or company. Is the content engaging and topical? Do you have requests for responses from your visitors? Are there effective calls to action? Are you posting current pictures and video? Are you using opt-in email programs to engage your visitors?

Social media is inbound marketing – your goal is to drive visitors to your website. Taking browsers and converting them into customers is really what we are trying to achieve. Having a Facebook page should not be a replacement for your website. If you haven’t changed your content or pictures on your website in over a year, it’s time to put in the work and effort and show your visitors you are engaged in the process of providing them the best experience when they visit your site.

It’s not that hard to engage your customers with Social Media. It does require some thought and effort. If you have any questions, or would like some ideas on how to best begin with Social Media, send me an email and I’d be glad to help design a program for your business. mrobinson@gerichards.com

Trackback Print

Tags:

Categories: Sales & Marketing

Location: Blogs Parent Separator

Mark Robinson

75 comment(s) so far...

fake hermes scarf

these kinds of jewelries seems to be never to fall short.utilize the pliers in an effort to nearby a person engagement ring around one other.bvlgari sunglasses wedding
# fake hermes scarf

By TrackBack on 3/8/2013 12:06 PM

aspirateur

nice homepage
# aspirateur

By TrackBack on 3/27/2013 12:25 AM

woodworking

cool site
# woodworking

By TrackBack on 3/27/2013 11:58 PM

tao of badass

nice homepage
# tao of badass

By TrackBack on 4/3/2013 11:31 PM

baidu censor

Some countries censor Internet content and not just rogue regimes such as the Iranian mullocracy. Poor people! http://www.baidu.com
# baidu censor

By TrackBack on 4/30/2013 9:18 PM

FakE oaklEys

A work of a harvest,accurately because of your troublesome writing, we can feel so much happiness, learn more our own understanding of their. The world could be so okay.
# FakE oaklEys

By TrackBack on 5/11/2013 8:42 PM

TdTSzJik

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# TdTSzJik

By TrackBack on 5/11/2013 8:43 PM

mulberry sale

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# mulberry sale

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 12:38 AM

cheap prom dresses

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# cheap prom dresses

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 12:38 AM

cheap ray ban sunglasses

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# cheap ray ban sunglasses

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 12:39 AM

lacoste outlet

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# lacoste outlet

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 4:41 AM

louis vuitton bags

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# louis vuitton bags

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 4:41 AM

mulberry sale

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# mulberry sale

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 4:41 AM

cheap oakley

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# cheap oakley

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 4:41 AM

pig

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# pig

By TrackBack on 5/12/2013 4:41 AM

Mulberry Sale

Blog - Social Media – Is it right for my company?
# Mulberry Sale