“Businesses find it scary,” one PR director said, when asked about his firm’s attempts to use social media for marketing purposes. And it’s easy to see why. It’s broad, it’s fragmented and it’s constantly evolving. Yes, social media isn’t for the faint-hearted – yet ignoring it isn’t an option.
After talking to several experts in the social media field, here is our six point guide to getting to grips with this complex – yet uniquely powerful – form of marketing.
1. Decide if social media is right for you
Everybody’s doing it – so that means my business should be, right? Not necessarily. Our experts agree that if you’re going to use social media, it has to be put through the same rigours as other marketing techniques. Matt Rhodes, head of client services at FreshNetworks, sums it up best when he advises businesses about the perils of “just doing something because it sounds funky.”
Just as you wouldn’t attend a social networking event that didn’t contain any potential clients, you need to ask whether your business prospects are residing in the social media stratosphere. Jennifer Janson, managing director of Six Degrees, says: “The challenge is understanding whether your target audiences use social media, and if so, how? Only then can a brand decide whether to use it as a channel.”
That said, all our experts agreed that social media’s phenomenal growth means that, chances are, its sprawling tentacles will touch some aspect of your business. A good starting point, then, is a presence on Twitter and LinkedIn – the former being the fastest growing social media network; the latter being the largest of the professional networks. Registration on either is a straightforward process.
2. Consider the options
From blogs to social and business networks through to podcasts, forums and creating your own online community – all come under the broad banner of social media. Confronted with this array of options, many businesses are unsurprisingly overwhelmed. Again, however, it comes back to finding out about the social media habits of your target audience.
Asked for some practical tips on approaching this broad issue, experts agreed on the importance of setting clear objectives. Charles Wells, managing director at social networking agency Kinship Networking, says: “We always take our clients through a number of simple steps. We look at what they are trying to achieve and the problem they are seeking to solve. We also look at the target groups they are reaching out to and ask whether it is possible to reach these through the social networking world. If they can do this through Twitter or Facebook, for example, they may as well do so, as they are free.”
3. Keep your ear to the ground
You might not yet feel ready to start Twittering or blogging – but that doesn’t mean your business should ignore social media. Social media can provide an invaluable feedback mechanism for businesses and an opportunity to gauge opinions about your products and services. As one seasoned business blogger told me, “if people are making negative comments about your business, you want to know about it.”
Janson stresses the importance of listening. She says: “Even if you don’t feel ready to take the leap towards having your own blog, or sparking conversations through other online forums, make sure you monitor what is being said that is relevant to you, your company and the market you operate in. If you don’t know what is being said about your company, your industry or your market, then you can’t hope to play a role in influencing it.”
4. Pick the right network
There are countless social networks out there, so many that, as Wells points out, “you can spend forever on social media and half your life ‘Twittering’ about nothing.” Hence the importance of choosing the right networks for your business.
Dan Martin, an editor at Sift Media, says that a good way of doing this is by using the search functions on the various different networks to see if your business is being talked about. “If you are being talked about you should be there, influencing the debate,” he says. For businesses that are unsure about what kind of tactics or techniques they should be employing on social or business networks, Martin suggests searching for competitor names in your sector to see what they are doing and if any lessons can be learned.
Various agencies have been established with the specific aim of helping businesses sift out the networks that have direct relevance to their business. Social Media Library is a good example. It’s a tool that allows for in-depth examination of online networks, influencers and communities (see www.socialmedialibrary.co.uk).
5. What about the costs involved?
Advertising options are available on the popular social and professional networks and many experts suggests that social media’s ability to target specific audiences with powerful campaigns is a key draw for businesses. Big B2B brands such as Sage have leveraged these with considerable success of late.
Yet there is a great deal you can do for free. Henry Clifford Jones is director of advertising for Europe with LinkedIn, the UK’s most popular professional network. He stresses the importance of simple steps such as keeping your company profile up to date and joining in discussions relating to your brand. Marketing to your immediate network on LinkedIn and other professional networks is free, however, to promote your brand beyond that, various – costed – targeted campaigns are available.
6. When and why should I create my own online community?
Two key issues to consider here are privacy and measurability. Many marketers talk of how organisations are increasingly growing their brand on freely available professional networks such as LinkedIn, Xing and Viadeo before inviting people back to their own community. Steve Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Metia, points out that with free, universal networks you have to be prepared to compromise on ownership of data. He adds: “If you are a bigger firm or have specific requirements, you might want to initially leverage those free platforms and then draw people into your own community.”
The options for creating your own community are worthy of an entirely separate debate. However, Martin offers a few interesting points: firstly, the fact that there are so many networks out there suggests that in a great many cases, “there is no need to reinvent the wheel – simply create your own network within other networks.” Also, there are firms out there – Webjam and Shoutem are two of them – that allow you to freely use their software to create online networks.
Finally, if you choose to go down the create-your-own route, he suggests you make sure you have something interesting to give people.
