Deciding where to focus your social media energy can be a confusing process, as time is short and resources are limited. It’s easy to get distracted by the buzz and articles touting the next big thing that brands “must do.” As with any marketing channel, though, the more thought and strategy you put into your implementation plans, the greater your chance of success. You can avoid being overwhelmed by stepping back and starting with your own business objectives, product offerings, and target consumers.
Who are my target customers, and what do I know about their online behavior?
Identifying your own goals will help you decide which type of social media channel makes the most sense for your efforts, and clarifying the desired behavior of your community members will help define how you go about engaging with them. For example, are you trying to increase brand awareness? If so, consider marketing activities that include the collection and sharing of customer testimonials, highly-shareable content, and buzz-worthy interactions. Are you shooting for increased traffic and conversions? Look for opportunities to engage with relevant, interested customers who are ready to pull the “buy” trigger. The point is to match your engagement efforts with the outcomes you want to see.
Focus on what is most important to your community rather than what is most popular
Once you get going in social, it’s easy to get distracted. There are new apps, tools, and networks that pop up on an almost-daily basis, and you could easily spend your entire day just checking them all out. The idea, though, is to strike a balance between tools-obsessed marketing and being an ostrich with its head in the sand. It’s better to do fewer things effectively than many things ineffectively. But you should also keep your eyes and ears open for the up-and-coming social trends; there will be a time when it makes sense for you to jump in. Here are some things to consider:
Look for platform functionalities that work with your product offering or market space. For example, clothing retailers are well positioned for the image sharing social networks that have become popular, like Instagram and Pinterest.
What are the different types of social channels?
Not all social media sites and platforms are created equal, and each social channel won’t always work the same way in helping users reach their goals. In looking across the online environment, it helps to organize your social options into categories. By looking at groups of channels with common themes, it is easier to frame your decisions about when, where, who, and how best to engage with your community online.
The easiest way to break up the categories is to think of them as owned, rented, and occupied. Here’s how each of those categories breaks down:
Owned properties
Owned properties may include blogs, forums, or homegrown social networks, and they can be internal or external. The main difference with this category is that you literally own the channel rather than occupying a page on a platform that is owned by someone else. It may be on your primary site or on another domain, but it is fully under your control.
Rented properties
Much like renting an apartment, a user occupies a portion of a channel with the permission of the owner. Sometimes there is a cost involved, but in the world of social media, that doesn’t happen often. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr fall into this category. Facebook owns its site, and you’re simply managing a presence on it. You may have official claim to the page, but you have no claim to the platform itself or a say in how it may change.
Occupied properties
This category is the most removed from your control. Your company might have an official representative who interacts and engages in an occupied property, but there is no ownership of any kind, and these channels can be changed at any time. Reddit is probably the most popular example. Employees of a company will frequently participate in forums or community sites in either an official or unofficial capacity, but always on behalf of the company.
Consumer conversations take place across all three of these social channel categories, but before you dive into any of them, it’s important to take some time and think through your channel management plans and participation strategies. For example, smaller brands with limited resources might select one site based on the high mileage they can get from their consumer base before needing to branch out into multiple channels. As a representative of your brand, you have the opportunity to add unique perspective and value to whatever channel will work best for your organization.
Which network should I sign up for first?
There is no one answer to this question. For each and every business, this question will be answered differently. A good first step for any organization is to visit KnowEm.com. This site allows you to register your brand name across more than 500 social networks. This will help to ensure that your name will be registered where you need it to be, regardless of which platform you end up deciding is right for your brand. And for those that you may not need to use right away, your brand name remains protected from squatters. Consequently, Knowem also has one of the most comprehensive lists of all of the social networks on the web, so it is also a good place to look for networks beyond the obvious Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.
What network should I signup for?
That said, it’s a pretty safe bet to say that nearly everyone should have a Facebook page. With over 1.19 billion active monthly users (as of Sep. 2013), it’s quite likely you will find a healthy number of your customers here. You may find the same thing in Twitter.
Another tool to help you narrow down the “where” of your social strategy is to go on a bit of a listening journey. Use one of the many social listening tools to find out where your customers and greater industry are having relevant conversations. This insight should help uncover where it makes the most sense to set up your presence.
Single vs. multiple accounts
Whether or not to attempt multiple accounts on one social network is a big question. The answer: It depends. Some large companies, like Nordstrom, have a corporate Twitter account, while many of their stores have their own accounts. This allows them to communicate rather specific and relevant information to regional followers, while maintaining their corporate account for overarching news, promotions, and announcements. Other companies have found it helpful to segment their accounts by product, such as Google, GoogleAPIs, Blogger, and so on. In this case, it makes sense based on their offerings to divide the conversations up by audience and product rather than geography. Nike, Comcast, and Delta Airlines are good examples of brands that have successfully implemented multiple accounts for multiple purposes.
The most important thing to consider when deciding if it makes sense to segment your profiles on these networks is whether or not you’re better able to add value to the customer and the conversation. Are you better able to address your customer needs on one account, or are there regional considerations that may make that more difficult?
Additionally, you should carefully consider your ability to manage multiple accounts. Tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and SocialEngage make it easier than ever to manage multiple accounts from one dashboard, but remember—there’s nothing sadder than an abandoned social account. It doesn’t send a good message about your brand and its ability to follow through.