Social media – achieving success

In my last blog I discussed relationships with media influencers, but what about social influencers? At Babel, we are seeing more businesses include social media support within RFPs, as well as current clients requesting additional support with this comms process. As such, here are my top tips for any business looking to develop a social media strategy.

How can social media strategies impact your business

I was recently at a networking event where somebody told a panel “my competitors are using Twitter, so I think I should too.” When this comment was made, the first thought to enter my head was: this approach is completely wrong.

Simply running a social media campaign for the sake of running a social media campaign will mean messaging shared could be half-baked, the social copy may not resonate with your target audience, and the brand may be investing time and money in the wrong platforms. Instead, brands must identify how they want social media to support their business goals before they develop a strategy.

Understand the pros and cons of different social media platforms

Many companies are taking a scatter gun approach to social media, posting all of their content across multiple platforms, such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

But to garner the best results and secure the highest levels of engagement from their content, brands should conduct a channel strategy and determine which type of content will perform best on which platform. A whitepaper, for example, is likely to perform better on LinkedIn and Twitter than on Facebook, whereas a CSR-related post will perform well on all platforms, particularly on Facebook.

For this strategy to be formed and implemented, a brand’s social channels will need to be active for at least six months. This will allow time to accumulate credible analytical data, which will form the basis of the channel strategy.

Understand success

When building out a social media strategy, be it organic or paid, it is vital that a business understands what it wants to achieve, and what success looks like. For those building a brand, success could be securing regular engagements on their posts. For others with a target of increasing sales, it could be driving traffic to a branded webpage, article or third-party retailer.

Having this understanding from the offset means that any content shared will be relevant, factually correct and engaging for the target audience.

Going from plan to reality

Once the social media strategy has been nailed down, it is time to put the plan into action, using a carefully created social content calendar. This should align with a brand’s wider business strategy and take inspiration from key themes, industry events, breaking news, and trends, and helps ensure that any content created and pushed out across the social channels is timely and relevant.

Some businesses – especially those with minimal internal resources – may see launching a social media campaign as an additional, burdensome piece of work This is where a team of social media experts can help, by taking charge of the forward planning, content creation, execution, reporting and overall management. This team can then provide detailed insights into the results of the social media campaign within the context of the business and the wider industry, by benchmarking against competitors – whilst the business focuses on its growth.

What’s next?

Once a business has successfully launched its social media strategy and is beginning to see the benefits, it should begin to look at partnering with micro-influencers, a group which has a fast-growing follower base. In many instances, micro-influencers will not charge to partner with a brand, as both parties see an opportunity to grow in tandem.

This approach not only extends the reach of content, but also allows for third party endorsements, all whilst growing a budding relationship with the influencer.

Not only can influencers further a brand’s narrative, they also offer an opportunity to promote wider marketing objectives and industry events, such as having them participate in podcasts, webinars or attend events.

Here at Babel, we offer our clients B2B social media campaigns that enable them to connect with the influences and decision makers that matter to them.