Tips on Executing a Successful Social Media Campaign

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Tips on Executing a Successful Social Media Campaign

Start today. Social media is a space that is occupied by millions of people and probably some of your competitors. By not being on social media, you are giving up the potential to build better relationships with clients and potential clients to your competitors.
Ensure your intellectual property portfolio is protected. “Make sure to file trademark and service mark applications before you tweet or post information on the Internet about company products and services,” says Kenneth Suzan, Intellectual Property Partner at Hodgson Russ LLP, a law firm headquartered in Buffalo, New York.
Research. See how other companies are using social media, especially your competitors. This will help you decide how social media can enhance your brand.
Use more than one social media platform. Not all social media are the same. YouTube allows users to upload and search for video content. Facebook is similar to a traditional web site and allows communities of like interest to interact with each other. Twitter is like having your own corporate newspaper or radio, which allows you to make short updates like new product announcements and company news.
Integrate social media into your company’s overall branding strategy. A company’s social media campaign should complement traditional marketing efforts. Traditional advertising should not be abandoned, but rather used as ways to publicize the company's social media contacts and presence.
Consider your objectives. Ask yourself what do you hope to achieve with the social media. For example, Rotary Lift uses YouTube to showcase videos about the company, new products, environmental considerations, and service procedures. They use Twitter to give followers quick updates on the latest happenings at the company. They use Flickr to showcase photos of customer installations, appearances at trade shows, and new product developments. Then the company synthesizes all the information using Facebook.
Offer value. Give reasons for people to visit and interact with your social media. Include tips, expert advice, top 10 lists, and broader information that effects people in the heavy equipment industry, like government regulations or industry trends.
Be careful what you say and how you say it. Remember everything on the web is instantaneous, public and possibly permanent. “The Library of Congress started keeping record of every tweet in the last few years,” says Suzan. “And they plan to keep cataloguing all tweets in the near future.”
Update content regularly. When social media isn’t upgraded regularly, it appears as though your brand is on vacation. “Don’t abandon your efforts midstream,” says Suzan. “Social media is like a garden. You have to put effort in regularly and your efforts will come to fruition in time.”
Monitor social media. Search social media for what is being said about your brand, your competitors, and any other topic related to your business. In doing so, you familiarize yourself with what your customers and potential customers think is important and then you can use this information to shape your brand and create selling opportunities.
Respond to any negative or false statements about your brand. Sometimes people write about negative experiences they have had with your company or products. They could be using social media as a sounding board for your products. One-third of bloggers write about products or companies. Use negative feedback as a way of providing good public service. If something is untrue, it should be examined by legal professionals.
Measure and track your social media. Notice how many followers or fans your social media attracts, how often people are posting messages to it, and what people are posting. By tracking what works well and what doesn’t, allows you to reevaluate and redo your social media that better interacts in that community and achieves your company’s objectives.