If there’s one thing that’s clear from the rise of the ‘digital age’, it’s that social media has become an enormous force in the marketing world (though you probably already knew that!). There is more pressure than ever on brands to find the next best thing to catch the eye – social media being key in this regard. So with this in mind, how can companies be sure they’re making the most of their communications strategy?
Look close to home
The integration of PR and social media is essential to an effective content marketing plan. A company’s website is a gold mine of information; useful bits of info are hidden behind tabs and drop down menus – social gives the best platform to get this information out there. Press releases, case studies, product information and blogs are a good place to start in terms of content to promote.
Look ahead
Looking at the calendar and marking dates that are key to the company’s business throughout the year should be standard practice. This way, preparing social media content in line with press releases about new products or event attendance allows for time to create engaging content that goes with them – for example, a series of ‘live tweets’.
Research, learn, adapt
A continuous cycle of analysing, sharing, changing, monitoring and feedback is an effective way of keeping social media accounts varied, fresh and interesting.
Regular monitoring of the social media feed in terms of reach and interaction will help a company determine which bits of information they promote are actually being engaged with and give their ‘follower’ base a reason to react.
Inviting those from other areas of the business to give their views can be refreshing; see what they think by bringing together a roundtable on a regular basis to hear ideas and opinions from those across the organisation.
Topicality
Getting involved in monthly world trends, such as Movember, offers opportunities to show current and potential customers a human side to the business.
There’s no need to always be corporate and polished – show a fun side!
Visual
Following on from the above, a visual social feed is always a winner. Results on a shoestring in the form of static or moving infographics offer bite size bits of information – just what the reader wants!
Videos are widely used across social nowadays, for example in the form of brief case studies. These should be short – around 90 seconds max, and be accompanied with subtitles as more people than ever are viewing social apps via their phones and are more likely to have the sound muted.
Quirky and thought provoking
Don’t be afraid to step off of the corporate ladder. Thought leadership pieces in the style of a Buzzfeed list – ‘the top 10 packaging innovations of the last 5 years’, for example, or ‘the 5 big printer events you should be attending this year’ offer something different and informative.
So, however many social media accounts your company has, variety is essential to keeping them engaging. Utilising the views of others in the business, as well as news from the website, videos, infographics and photos keep the feed visually appealing and refreshing.
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