When it comes to community-building through social media outposts, I’ve seen some awesome examples of how it should be done. I’ve also seen some awesomely dismal campaigns that made me wonder why they were ever conceived. They could learn a lot from Yoda.
Do or Do Not. There is no try. Get it? If you don’t believe in the potential of social media as a valuable part of your marketing strategy and/or you don’t put in the effort needed to make it successful, then that is why you fail.
I’ve put together this list, hoping that it will help someone bring their social media efforts back to life or get started in the right direction!
All broadcast, all the time. Social media marketing should not be all about you – it should be all about your community members. Promote your brand and products, but above all, promote your loyal customers. Interact with and involve them. Make it a two-way conversation.
Little or no activity. One of the biggest turn-offs to someone considering following, liking, or otherwise joining a social media community is lack of activity. There’s no value in them being a part of your community if there’s nothing going on. It’s important to keep tweets and posts up-to-date with relevant content and respond to questions and comments in a timely manner.
Nothing exciting or of value to your community members. Online communities should be relevant and offer value to community members, and successful online communities are ones in which members are excited to participate. Your social media outposts are your communities, so give your members a reason to participate by offering them content, offers and support that will keep them engaged.
Little or no promotion of your outposts. If you’re not promoting your social outposts through your website, email campaigns, and offline materials, how do you expect people to know they exist? If you want social media to be a successful part of your marketing plan, you have to make your social media presence known to your existing and potential customers.
Under-utilization of available social media assets. Your “social media assets” are content items, tools and anything else you have available that will only help your social media marketing efforts. These include content like blog posts, podcasts, and press releases, as well as tools like hashtags, Twitter lists, event pages and groups. Take stock of these assets and map out how they can best be used to your advantage.