Social media has changed the marketing landscape as well as how businesses interact with their customers online. The convergence of traditional media has provided channels for companies to engage their customer directly in different ways. In fact, the depth, in which you can go, to capitalize off the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even YouTube, often can require as much time investment as a college degree. Many businesses recognize the trend of social media but still don’t invest the proper resources into creating an effective social media plan. Here is why we believe you should create a position in your company and hire a social media strategist to be part of your team.
Time is of the essence
People use social media everyday to keep up-to-date on current affairs and to find out what is going on “right now.” In fact, more people turn to social media rather than a particular news source for information. Companies need to understand how real time updates concerning their business, can be incorporated in their Internet marketing strategy to engage their customers. Having a social media expert in-house (on location) promoting your company news (including products or services), will provide your business a significant advertising advantage.
Share new sales and promotions with your followers as they happen. If customers are engaging with your brand through social media channels, your in-house social media marketer can respond quickly, with accurate up-to-date information. For example, if a customer has questions about a product they purchased and need help contacting support, responding quickly though social media can be extremely helpful. Likewise if someone would like to know if your store is open on a holiday or if your restaurant has gluten free menu options, a lot of times these inquiries can benefit from an immediate response.
Listen to your audience
An important part of a successful social media strategy is listening to your audience. Social media isn’t about sharing your updates all the time. A successful social media approach consists of listening to your audience’s conversations and collecting important data to help your overall marketing efforts. There is an art to listening on social media and collecting valuable data. Your social media expert could spend 50 to 75 percent of the day watching trends, following hash tags, and reviewing analytics, while spending the remaining time engaging your audience with updates.
Your customers are telling you what they need with the information they share online and having someone in house to make sense of all the data, can be a game changer for your business. Make sure you or your manager are meeting with your in-house strategist daily, to capitalize on the valuable data that you can use to increase your bottom line.
Social Media Manager Team Member
It’s time to think about a social media strategist as an essential team member for your company. Nobody knows your business better than you and your staff. While you can outsource your social media responsibilities to a social media marketing company, you won’t get the same results as if you keep this essential marketing task in-house. A majority of these companies will schedule most (if not all) of your weekly updates on a app like Hootsuite (over the course of one hour), and then your updates will be posted automatically throughout the week. Automated doesn’t sound too engaging does it? For most businesses, this will not increase your social media engagement and in fact can hurt your overall Internet marketing strategy. For more information about Internet marketing, feel free to send us a message or contact us at 202-683-6881.
