Enterprises of all shapes and sizes operating across all manner of industries rely on social media.
Whether it’s consumer-facing, B2B or even internally shared content, social media represents a fast, relatively inexpensive and mightily effective series of tools. These tools help organisations build brands, drive growth, communicate with key stakeholders, gain insights and advertise products and services.
There are more than 4.5 billion social media users around the world, and counting. It is therefore little wonder that companies are investing so much in this strand of marketing and communications activity. Last year, social media accounted for almost 16% of UK companies’ entire marketing budgets. This is set to rise to 20% during 2023, and 27% within five years.
Companies can ill afford to get social media wrong
Even when looking at social media solely through an upfront investment lens, firms cannot afford to get their campaigns and content delivery wrong.
There is huge pressure in terms of finances and resources consumed, and the need to deliver a return on investment. The global and instant nature of social media also means that a catastrophe is potentially just a click, or keystroke, away. One poorly judged LinkedIn post or abrasive response to a customer’s feedback on Twitter can carry many consequences. This spans from reputational damage to lost revenue and even legal action.
Equally, in a far less drastic and longer-term sense, badly executed social media activity can result in major missed opportunities. Brand and product potential can be unfulfilled, and enterprises can fail to hit important marketing and wider business KPIs.
How to get it right
On the flipside, when thought out properly and executed professionally, social media can easily be a brand’s most valuable marketing tool. This can include those in B2B circles where the likes of LinkedIn is proving its worth in spades.
Here are some quickfire dos and don’ts to help shape successful social media campaigns. With these, you can ensure your social media remains an asset to your organisation.
Marketers should:
- Have a content plan: What are your objectives and what content is best placed to achieve them? Social media is “in the moment for those who consume its content”. However, it requires a huge amount of work and planning in the background.
- Have a posting schedule (and stick to it): Some posts need to be published at particular times to have maximum impact. For example, when they are in response to a scheduled event or in line with important company activities. Take time to come up with an optimised schedule and do your best to stick to it.
- Set the right posting frequency: There is a fine line between over and under posting on social media. Post too little, and it looks like the account is a token part of a company’s marketing activities. Post too much, and followers (potential customers) could be put off and view your activities as spam.
- Vary their post types: It is easy to get bored of a brand or company’s social media output. To keep things fresh, try using different types of post that appeal to different audience segments. Some followers may respond better to visual content such as images, GIFs and videos. Others may find greater value in simpler posts that serve a purely informational purpose.
Conversely, social media marketers should not:
- Neglect proofreading their content: We’ve all seen high profile examples of where a simple grammatical mistake (even one letter) transforms the meaning of a statement. Good content must get the basics right. That includes text being used for social media – ideally, at least two sets of eyes should proofread content before it is posted.
- Engage with trolls: Being proactive in trying to resolve issues with customers is one thing, but there are times to step back if your organisation is being trolled. Trollers are deliberately trying to cause offence and have a set agenda. Being able to identify and then block or shut them off from your brand is an important skill.
- Stray from central strategies: Social media strategies will have time and resources invested in them for a reason. Some circumstances or events may warrant a temporary shift intact. With that said, wider strategies should be adhered to unless a change of direction has been communicated across the team.
Unsure where to start?
Managing business social media accounts, which may take many forms and cover multiple channels, can be a daunting task. However, with a sound strategy and processes in place, social media can quickly be transformed into a vital asset. By following these tips, social media can perform several crucial marketing and communications functions.
Magenta helps to manage and maintain social channels for personal and business accounts. We have particular specialisms in the B2B sphere, leveraging the likes of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. We know how to improve pages and produce compelling, shareable content that will resonate with your social audience.
If you need help with your business’s social media strategy, get in touch.
