http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-visual-social-media-marketing-strategy/
Do you have a visual component as part of your social media marketing strategy? I hope that’s a resounding, “YES!” If you feel stuck for ideas on using visuals, this post has 26 tips for getting started with a visual strategy:
I often find one of my biggest challenges is to simplify the many concepts, tools and buzzwords that are used within the fields of entertainment, creative services, social, digital and new media. Now that I also work with larger brands and companies, I must also explain the measurable benefits of the tools and techniques that are used in integrated social marketing.
I loved this article by Mckinsey about Demystifying Social Media for Executives and it’s no wonder they are at the top of their industry. If you’re ready for the journey, click through to read some heavy duty insights into social media (it is a long read, but I’m glad that someone out there is writing long form content). If you’re short on time or attention, here are some of highlights and takeaways, which I hope will encourage you to read the whole article, that is full of relevant examples:
“As the marketing power of social media grows, it no longer makes sense to treat it as an experiment … senior leaders can harness social media to shape consumer decision making in predictable ways.”
“… what makes social media so potent: its ability to amplify word-of-mouth effects.”
“Companies diligently establish Twitter feeds and branded Facebook pages, but few have a deep understanding of exactly how social media interacts with consumers to expand product and brand recognition, drive sales and profitability, and engender loyalty.”
“It’s no secret that consumers increasingly go online to discuss products and brands, seek advice, and offer guidance. Yet it’s often difficult to see where and how to influence these conversations…”
“…there’s no single measure of social media’s financial impact, and many companies find that it’s difficult to justify devoting significant resources—financial or human—to an activity whose precise effect remains unclear.”
“Being able to identify exactly how, when, and where social media influences consumers helps executives to craft marketing strategies that take advantage of social media’s unique ability to engage with customers.”
“It’s (social media) much more than simply another form of paid marketing, and it demands more too: a clear framework to help CEOs and other top executives evaluate investments in it, a plan for building support infrastructure, and performance-management systems to help leaders smartly scale their social presence.”
“Social media is extending the disruptive impact of the digital era across a broad range of functions. Meanwhile, the perceived lack of metrics, the fear, and the limited sense of what’s possible are eroding. Executives can identify the functions, touch points, and goals of social-media activities, as well as craft approaches to measure their impact and manage their risks. The time is ripe for executive-suite discussions on how to lead and to learn from people within your company, marketers outside it, and, most of all, your customers.”
Get ready to read through a goldmine of tips! In this article, 12 top Community Managers share some really great insights into what works for them. Common sense? Yes, but it’s always helpful to be reminded.
And while much of this advice is from community managers who work for brands and companies, the advice is very much applicable to individuals. Because, remember, you are thinking and acting like brands, right?!
7 Steps to a Simple Social Media Strategy
We get bombarded with “do this, do that” articles about social media so it’s no wonder if you’re confused and overwhelmed. I read a LOT of these, since I like and need to keep on top of what’s going on out there. This post is a truly good one! Read it all the way through. The author doesn’t just tell you what the steps are, he asks relevant questions - questions you need to be asking yourself so that you are “doing” social media more effectively. And he closes out the post with a concise list of key points. Bookmark this one, and go back to it often. Ask yourself the questions, and apply the answers. By the way, these are steps - and questions - you should be asking yourself about all your strategies, including your personal brand strategy!
Should You Focus on Facebook or Twitter? : The New Chocolate vs. Vanilla Question
There’s so much to consider in the Facebook vs. Twitter debate. And there is no winner. It’s not one or the other.
It’s a matter of using each platform for it’s most useful purpose. And thought that can be generalized, i.e. Facebook for brand to consumer and Twitter for business to business, it goes way beyond that.
Every brand, every professional, needs to have a personalized, targeted strategy. And often, it will include both these platforms. HOW you use them is the key.
This is a fresh, interesting and very relevant article about Social Media and the shifts taking place within the sphere.
We get bombarded with ‘musts’ about social media and unfortunately a lot of people act mechanically - posting, tweeting, liking, etc. without truly understanding or caring about the purpose of their actions.
This paragraph from the article is brilliant, and in my opinion, sums it up perfectly:
“there’s more to social media than clever campaigns and rudimentary conversations. Talking isn’t the only thing that makes social media social. Just like adding Facebook, Twitter and other sharing buttons will not magically transform static content into shareable experiences. Listening, learning and adapting is where the real value of social media will show its true colors. Listening leads to a more informed business. Engagement unlocks empathy and innovation. But it is action and adaptation that leads to relevance. And, it never ends.”
Read the article through to the end for three take-aways that you should use as rules to live by when working your social media activities.
Flying Social: How Virgin America's First-Class Marketing Fuels Brand Awareness
Tons of examples of Virgin’s social marketing - fun, sassy, successful!
I’m back today to talk about Flickr - another site where you can build an online community, promote your work, share your process, and create some back-links leading to your landing page – that main site where you want people to eventually arrive and engage with on a regular basis (whether that’s for sales or for information).
Flickr is a photo site with it’s own built in community that allows you to comment, share, subscribe to and “friend” others, and even create groups (open or closed). The main content on Flickr is photos as that was it’s main purpose, but you can use Flickr to upload all kinds of image files. You can also use Google’s Picasa as a photo-album service, which now ties into Google +.
As Flickr itself states, its Goals are two-fold:
We want to help people make their photos available to the people who matter to them. We want to get photos and video into and out of the system in as many ways as we can: from the web, from mobile devices, from the users’ home computers and from whatever software they are using to manage their content. And we want to be able to push them out in as many ways as possible: on the Flickr website, in RSS feeds, by email, by posting to outside blogs or ways we haven’t thought of yet.
We want to enable new ways of organizing photos and video. Once you make the switch to digital, it is all too easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer number of photos you take or videos you shoot. Part of the solution is to make the process of organizing photos or videos collaborative. In Flickr, you can give your friends, family, and other contacts permission to organize your stuff - not just to add comments, but also notes and tags. And as all this info accretes as metadata, you can find things so much easier later on, since all this info is also searchable.
10 Ways to Promote Your Social Profiles
Very good article on how to promote your social profiles outside of the social networks themselves. We spend tons of time on creating the profiles, creating content, and promoting them directly. Here’s how to promote them outside of their native ‘lands’ (and make sure you read the article for a more detailed explanation of each):
1. Add the social network to your email signature
2. Add the social network to your business card
3. Add the social network to your site and/or blog
4. Add share buttons to your site and/or blog
5. Add the social network to your advertising
6. Add the social network to your marketing collateral
7. Add the social network to your events (& relative marketing material)
8. Add the social network to your contests
9. Add the social network (apps) to your phone
10. Add the social networks to your vocabulary (mention them!)
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