Social media has opened doors for brands to be more visible and accessible to its followers and customers through constant engagement and interactions. This not only promotes a healthy relationship with all concerned parties but eventually help in the growth of a business. Social marketing has made its way into being an integral part of forming an online identity of a brand with a well thought and planned strategy. Lets have a closer look at the strategies that can be devised and successfully incorporated to make social media effective for your brand in today’s scenario, by answering the following questions.
How do you want to voice your brand?
The most important part of social marketing is how you voice your brand. There needs to be a clear and specific strategy for formulating a brand image and voicing it. This involves having clarity of what has to be achieved through integrated team efforts.
It is not appropriate to let the comparatively lesser experienced team members like interns to be entrusted with the task of voicing the brand on social media platforms as this may adversely affect business. Social conversations and interactions have to be interesting, engaging and compelling for the users and conscious efforts have to be made to ensure that. There has to be a cohesive and consistent voice for your brand which people can relate to. An understanding of the following can help design the voice of your brand.
- What does the brand stand for and how would you want it to be perceived by the users?
- Would the social interactions be casual or formal?
- Is there a particular style in which you would want your brand to be voiced?
Once a consensus, as to how the brand has to be voiced, has been reached it has to be communicated to all the team members involved in managing the social process. This consistent and unified strategy for voicing the brand would need to be aligned with all marketing efforts including public relations and advertising, which will create a meaningful brand experience.
What is the level of your interactions?
Social engagement today is no longer restricted, whether in terms of topics, questions, geographic boundaries or the audience. It is very important to keep these interactions relevant and pertinent to the topic being discussed. But, what is even more important is the fact that conversations which are subject to personal opinions should be avoided. Reacting to certain news or to be caught up in a debate within or around the brand category is very easy but can solicit unwarranted attention for the brand.
- Which topics should be clearly categorised as “within limits” and have to be responded to?
- How can queries about the competitive brands in the same niche be addressed?
- How can customer questions be handled?
It is important to address a healthy and interactive conversation however, it is equally important to differentiate personal opinions with that of the brand. The standards have to be set and adhered to so that social voice can enrich the user experience and add value to the business.
How do you ensure a seamless yet interesting flow of social interactions?
After a comprehensive planning, standards and basic guidelines have to be set so that there is no ambiguity regarding the type and tone of social media content and there is a seamless flow of work even when teams grow and players rotate.
- How to be consistent with other brand marketing activities?
- How can the effectiveness of social voice be monitored and measured?
- Who would be responsible for handling questions and approvals?
- Who would be the representative for participating in social interactions on behalf of the brand?
However, as important it is to have a well defined tone and timing of your social voice which is understood by all who are involved in social marketing, it is equally important to be innovative. It should also be understood that sometimes the guidelines may not fit in a real scenario and there is also a possibility that new situations may arise which would have not been accounted for. Hence, there is scope and need for being spontaneous responsibly along with adherence of the standards.