Audiences today do not want to be talked at. They want to be engaged in conversation. Social media gives us the power to do this, allowing us to define and control our brand. There is a shift from corporations and institutions to individuals and communities. Here are a few tips to take advantage of social media.
Facebook. To help spread the word about a new campaign, why not ask employees to change their Facebook status to announce your latest campaign? If you have 20,000 employees, most likely 10,000 of them have Facebook. With the average person having 100 friends, your announcement could receive over 1 million impressions for free. Ask employees to include their LinkedIn Profiles – now you have 2 million impressions for free.
YouTube. Create a YouTube channel dedicated to teaching people more about your industry. This channel would feature a series of short, focused videos that educate your audience on related topics that help position you as an industry expert. The videos could highlight benefits and features of your products.
Twitter. To help build and establish your company as an industry expert, top executives should create Twitter accounts to help position your company’s executives as thought leaders in the industry. Tweets should be business-related topics that talk about industry trends and forecasts. Zappos CEO has 1.6 million followers and is following almost 400K people. A total of 430 Zappos Employees have Twitter accounts. This presence helps Zappos engage and participate in conversations about their company.
Flickr. Flickr is a great way to help promote events that your company sponsors. Photos can be optimized to show up in search results and increase brand awareness. Using Flickr to increase branding opportunities for KeyBank’s sponsorship of a 10K race, the Key “Bank to Bay” gallery has alone received 6,000 views following the event.
The Po!nt
People visit social media sites every day, why not join them in what they are already doing?
Not all audiences are on the same trajectory with social media. Do you leave behind a generation, key segments of your market or target groups whose wallet share is meaningful to you by pursuing this as a standalone strategy for accessing customers? Think about how AARP advertises. It’s during re-runs of Murder She Wrote; not by tweeting the latest and greatest annuity products.
Yes, social media is a growing aspect of customer reach and should be leveraged in a way that drives awareness, steers purchasing, etc. However, it must be coupled with traditional streams of media to the extent that these channels mirror your customer / influencer base.
I would be interested in reading about how Adcom has successfully managed an advertising / marketing portfolio for a complex client whose audience spanned those that are digital communication savvy and those that are not.
Thank you!
Hey Joe, somehow missed this comment, so sorry for the delayed response. We managed a pretty complex social media campaign for the new Y (formerly YMCA) as they re-branded. We are working on a case study for it now. Can we email you a copy when it is done?