Since the rise of the social media channels, more and more brands have found themselves falling into the deep ocean of digital marketing with little to no idea on how to navigate it. Whilst some brands might have a handle on a few aspects of this vast, ever-changing ocean, they often overlook their social strategy, getting sucked into the idea that: a quick post here and there will do the trick… Unfortunately, that is not going to cut it and is more often than not the beginning of a deep downward spiral which could inadvertently ruin your brand.
We often have clients come to us with little to no understanding of their wider social fan base, having perhaps only sold online / to retailers or only ever marketed to that one demographic, so we get why the ocean of social media can be confusing.
As it stands for most of these brands, there is often little to no customer care for social channels implemented and no input from other areas of the company, simply because they don’t understand the importance of it so it unfortunately gets ignored. If this is sounding familiar, you might have also noticed it’s led to a decrease in time and effort being sending on your socials which is a huge mistake. If you think of it like this: there are over 7.5 billion people in the world, 3 billion of which are estimated to be on social media (tagging you and shopping with you) which means huge potential for your brand to reach new customers and demographics. With this in mind, you can appreciate that it is vital to have structure and a plan in place to ensure you reach the right audience with your brand and don’t waste the opportunities that come with being on social media.
Now, you’re probably wondering how you should go about starting the social strategy and to ensure your content is of a good, high enough quality and reaching the correct demographics. Whilst there is no quick fix, there are a few things you can do.
Firstly, it is vital to plan social posts weeks in advance, or at least have an idea of the type of content you want to post in advance. Whilst this is, and will feel, time-consuming it will ensure you always have content to go out and that content is of high quality capturing the right audiences and means you’re one step ahead of the game. It also means you can ensure that other areas of the company are keeping up with you and you’re not forgetting to market months before major events (i.e Christmas, or that yearly event you’re attending in August).
Having a strategy in place and planning in advance also means you have time to think about what your colleagues are doing and whether or not their work/meetings or events could be relevant to socials and if so, request they take some images for you!
Consistency is something that will come up time and time again, and one of the most important aspects of your social channels. It is vital that across platforms you’re using (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc..) you stay on brand and don’t start posting pictures of lemons on your apple selling page because you’re stuck for ideas – this again ties back into the reason for planning in advance and making sure your content is going to support brand.
So, now we’ve walked you through what Social Strategy means and why you should have one in place, you have probably come up with a few ideas already. As mentioned before, this is a huge task and one not to take lightly so start small and really think about implementing a strategy and learning more about your target audiences. If you would like to learn more or would like advice and support managing your brands’ social strategy please get in with our friendly team.
