Where do social media policies fit into your overall social media strategy? This white paper from Stevens and Tate Marketing identified nine best practices for social media.
This white paper addresses:
- social environment
- consumer behavior
- benefits of being social
- social involvement ladder
- valuable ways to use social media
- how to measure results
According to Dan Gratin, “Companies are still struggling to understand how to monetize social media. The key is to treat social marketing like any other corporate initiative—establish a business and messaging strategy that elevates the brand and execute on it.”
He explained that social marketing has changed the way companies disseminate their messages.
The white paper highlights best practices that will help brands create social medai.
- Define goals – Establish objectives up front: short-term sales, to complement a promotional campaign, to engage existing customers, raise brand awareness, increase searchability, encourage word of mouth, or spread news and information about business.
- Develop a social media policy – Start by assessing customers, the tribes they are a part of, how they use social media, and their level of involvement with competitors.
- Make it personal – Post relevant, timely and meaningful content that engages customers and they will be more encouraged to “spread the word” to their network of peers.
- Partner with causes customers care about – Whether it’s being green or feeding the hungry, people flock to support causes, ideas, organizations, or programs that they care about.
- Engage customers through polls and contests – By posting surveys, polls and trivia questions, consumers respond and spark conversations among their friends as well as a company’s followers.
- Reward customers for getting involved with the brand – Contests, promotions and giveaways are excellent drivers to get more followers to social sites and they reward the time and efforts people spend supporting the brand and sharing it with others.
- Stay active – Create a set timeline for posts; and post relevant, meaningful and respectful comments.
- Protect the brand – Create a custom URL and be smart about privacy and the company’s confidential information.
- Track results – By using a series of free social media monitoring, tracking and ROI tools, it is easy to evaluate the success of social efforts, and immediately make changes to campaign or take steps to help improve social strategy.
What else would you add?
To download, go to The Power of People: Social Media for 2011 and Beyond white paper at www.stevens-tate.com.
