Intention. Purpose. Passion. These attributes are at the heart of any effective brand: The intention you have to serve others with your unique business; the purpose for which you take any action; and the passion you demonstrate. The most successful businesses on social media channels use those characteristics to create an emotional connection with their audience. And that leads to honest-to-goodness results-increased revenue, reduced costs, lead generation and customer satisfaction.
Sending a Cohesive Message
When you think about reaching out to new customers, consistency is key. You want customers to have the same brand experience regardless of whether they interact with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, or YouTube. That alignment should also extend to your website and other customer interactions. Here's how to ensure brand alignment across all channels:
Perform a social media audit: Examine the images, logos and tone of your content. Does it look and feel like it has a common emotional thread? Is all your business profile information complete and up to date? Is it mobile-friendly for all smartphones?
Choose your brand champion(s): Someone has to post all your social content. Have them post by name so your audience gets to know them. These posters should have great soft skills-empathy, generosity and an inclusive attitude.
Get focused: Ask yourself what you want to achieve six to 12 months from now and make a marketing plan. Try out different options to find what works best, and keep yourself and your team engaged and committed. Paul Boynton, CEO of The Moore Center in Manchester and author of Begin With Yes, has grown his Facebook Page by the thousands. He's posting photos twice a day with descriptions.
When your brand is aligned with your intention, purpose, and passion, the results are remarkable. Look to the NH Division of Economic Development for proof. The division rebranded under the No Bull logo and slogan in 2009, and in two years, its website traffic has tripled, outreach costs are down, it has won awards and developed the largest economic development presence on Facebook in the nation.
Creating Brand Penetration
A cohesive and consistent brand presence on your social channels, with a set of goals, allows you to start working your channels. Keep these tips in mind for getting the word out:
Create and curate new and relevant content: You don't have to produce everything yourself. You can also be the filter" where good content is shared, liked, retweeted, and commented upon, with you as the trusted source-all key aspects to getting your brand out there more often.
Respond soon, and with a smile: Respond promptly and be friendly, even when the feedback is negative. This practically guarantees you'll take the high road, and generates positive word of mouth. Check out The Common Man's Twitter account, @TheCManNH. Erica Murphy, their director of communications and community relations, excels at positivity and responsiveness.
Cross-pollinate: Let your audience decide where they want to connect with you. Highlight your social channels in your other marketing materials.
As a sign of the times, TV shows and commercials these days are starting to send people to Facebook pages instead of websites, and flash Twitter hashtags to continue the conversation.
Take your show on the road: Comment on other people's blogs and Facebook pages. Reply to other people's tweets, create video responses to YouTube postings. These are the virtual equivalents of going to a networking event.
Advertise as needed: Target ads to your ideal audience, and since social advertising tends to be darned cheap and its impact easy to test, it's a good deal.
Measuring Your Success
For many years, social media escaped the demands of measurement routinely applied to all other marketing fields. But tools are evolving to help you quantify your social media success. Here are the top five:
Google Analytics: Track traffic from social channels, and use multi-channel funnels that show all the channels your customers used in the month before a given sales or lead generation conversion. It's free, with a souped-up enterprise version available at cost for big businesses.
Facebook Insights: This app gives you a ton of information about those who like your business. Karmen Gifford, executive director of the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce, uses it to refine her posting strategy, and now regularly sees gains in Facebook likes after chamber events.
Grading tools: These services attempt to grade your social performance, based on the service's idea ideas of what's important. A word to the wise: Track them over time to see trends, as those are much more useful. Hubspot's Graders, Klout, and Kred are three notable tools to check out.
Social Media Dashboard: With a dashboard, you can securely manage multiple social networks and also delegate social activity to team members. HootSuite is the number one app for this, hands down. For new content, it's always best to hand-post on the platform itself.
A Social CRM: If you have the budget, a customer relationship management system (CRM) including social media profiles can be tremendously powerful.
With just a few of these tools in place, you'll soon know what's working and what isn't. By tracking your progress over time and exploring new territory, your business can grow its social media brand.
Allen and Lani Voivod own Epiphanies Inc. in Laconia. They can be reached at 603-525-5248 or at www.epiphaniesinc.com.