Over the past couple of years, social media has burst out of the gate with speed. Everyone (even your grandmother) is expressing themselves via social media. If your company is marketing via social media (and if you're not, then you need to get in touch with us), it won't take long until you realize that trying to manage your herd of social media marketers is like trying to race a horse backwards. It's close to impossible to do, and you're bound to fall in the mud at some point (at least I hope that was mud). There are, of course, huge benefits when a company uses social media; but if your social media marketing efforts aren't managed properly, there are also some downsides. (We've all heard of instances of instances where employees have caused public relations nightmares when they've used social media to trash their employers.)
Managing your herd takes effort, planning and follow-up. To successfully manage your marketers, you must create guidelines of social media how-tos that your marketers should follow.
Here are 5 Social Media How-Tos for Managing Your Social Media Marketers.
- Create a plan. Social Media Marketing is no different than any other sales or marketing as far as planning and execution. From battles to weddings (are those different?), the importance of a plan can never be underestimated. It's the same with social media: correctly identifying your customer demographics, is the first step to successfully implementing a social media campaign. After that, it's about training your team of marketers to seek out that target audience. For instance, if your demographic audience is college-educated baby-boomers, your marketers wouldn't target high school males. Therefore, correct planning is critical to your social media marketing efforts.
- Behavior. Social Media is such a powerful medium that almost any little "slip" can cause chaos. Keeping it honest, positive and simple should be first and foremost. Teach your herd of marketers how to create a positive impact in the social media arena - it's crucial to any social media campaign. Remember, most people can see right through phoniness and lies.
- Reach people through Multiple platforms. Certainly your herd of social media marketers might have their favorite platforms, however, it's crucial that you spread your marketers over multiple platforms. If your entire team just tweets, they're ignoring the impact of other lesser known platforms that can still create a strong influence. Just remember that there are additional social media outlets besides Twitter and Facebook.
- Monitor. The benefits of social media marketing are tremendous, nevertheless, it's important to monitor the results and determine if the marketer's efforts and the platform are successful for your goals. The importance of determining ROI is crucial for fine-tuning your plan. Remember, although most of the platforms are free, you're still incurring costs for the marketing efforts.
- Outsource. Why spend valuable time and effort when you could very easily hire experts who can do it for you? Knowing when to ask for help is key to any plan. The marketers are trained and experts in social media, so the management is easily accomplished; as long as you don't hire actual herders.
A social media business and marketing strategy requires planning, discipline, and a daily commitment. It's about building long-term momentum. Correctly managing your herd of social media marketers will go far in creating that balance, energy and drive to propel your company to social media success.
Photo compliments of Paolo Camera
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