Olivier ChoronYes you are probably thinking a social media strategy for 2015 is a bit late in the day, but with increasingly busy schedules it may just be one of those tasks you are currently winging. Hoping it will just work out for itself. To expect great results you have got to be willing to change. Here I present 8 elements that must be a part of your social media strategy for 2015.
1.Plan, plan and plan again
Evaluate your current levels of engagement, such as number of retweets, shares, follows, favorites and likes that you receive each week. You can then look to set a weekly aim and plan which activity to undertake to achieve your goal. These tools below will provide with you some ideas as to how to increase this level, just ensure it is maintained. Discipline yourself!
2.I’m a specialist
It is tempting to share content on everything. Instead become a thought leader in a few chosen topics. I personally only share content on social media, email marketing and Channel Marketing. By becoming specialized and sharing your thoughts on a few chosen topics, you will achieve a targeted following base to attract.
Be really organised and schedule a month in advance the topics you will be producing content for. Maybe examine what is trending and choose a topic around this.
3.Thank you, you’re so kind
Politeness goes a long way, so always thank new followers for following you. It not only makes you look friendly, it also shows new customers who are reviewing your social media account, what excellent customer service you offer. And with 82% of your consumers reading your content on social media, this is essential.
4.Following to follower ratio
On Twitter, ensure you have more followers than those who you are following. Ideally half the amount. This will encourage more followers, as you will appear as an interesting thought leader.
On a weekly basis, aim to follow a few new people and sift through your current following base and unfollow those who do not add any value to you.
5.I am socially active with my followers
Ask yourself, what’s in it for my followers? Just like you, they want to be seen as providing excellent, useful content to their followers. Share/ retweet others content and mention them, and don’t forget to make thought leader comment. There is no better way to receive an increased awareness. Like I said if there is something in it for them they will interact with you, and you will reap the benefits, often by gaining followers/ likes.
Also aim to send a certain amount of tweets a day and choose preferable times to attract certain audiences and time zones.
‘Favouriting’ and liking content is also a great interaction tool. Aim to send a certain amount a day. From my experience just from doing this alone, you will receive ‘thank-yous’, increased awareness, as well as new followers. A great benefit for very little effort.
6.#hashtags
Hashtags serve a multitude of uses:
- Create targeted content that allows you to be easily found.
- Use hashtags to search for popular topics, identifying the level of competition for certain keywords. Ask yourself, are those keywords worth it if they’re not being searched? Or are they too popular in which case recognition is unlikely.
- From your research, make a list of hashtags you aim to use that month..
- This method is also a great way to find new targeted followers who will hopefully follow you back.
7.What are my competitors doing?
Struggling with ideas? Spend some time conducting competitor research. Identify what your competitors are doing. Would this work for me? How can I stand out? By evaluating this, you can determine how you are performing against your competitors, making changes where necessary.
8.Involve your advocates
Brands such as Microsoft use socialondemand® to share content with their employees, channel partners and other brand advocates. This is an innovative social media platform which, in less than three clicks, enables brand advocates and sales intermediaries to receive, edit, send or schedule posts, to any of their social networks, based on what they are interested in.
78% of Microsoft partners appreciate the value this brings, improving their efficiency levels. See it really does not need to be that time consuming.
It’s not easy creating a social media strategy, but by using tools, such as social media platforms, it can be made a whole lot easier. It’s all about evaluating your performance and trying new things. But once you get the perfect recipe, it is truly magical.
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