In today’s day and age where 77% of U.S. Americans claim to use social media, a well thought out social media strategy should be a part of any brand’s marketing strategy. Social media is a powerful tool that can help you reach large audiences, build your brand, and have a direct connection with your audience. I studied digital marketing in college and below are a few key takeaways I received from my social media marketing professor at the University of New Mexico.
1 – Develop an Online Personality & Adapt it Over Time
All of the top online brands replicate what (most) humans have- personality and character. Let’s take the fast food chain Wendy’s for example. Wendy’s prides itself on being witty and snarky on Twitter. A large part of Wendy’s success online is due to the fact that millennials love to interact with their favorite brands and will often share their personal interactions with Wendy’s with their friends. Read through this example from National Roast Day 2022. Every year on National Roast Day, people can tweet at Wendys and Wendys will “roast” a.k.a. mock them. When you scroll through the Tweets from National Roast Day, look at which Tweets get the most likes and comments- the ones that are the snarkiest.
Having a snarky online personality may seem rude and it may not be what you want for you and your business and that’s okay. Find one that does fit you. One way to help you create an online personality is to write down three adjectives of how you want others to view your brand. Is your brand going to be fun? Exciting? Sarcastic? Funny? Once you find the three best adjectives you want others to perceive you as, keep them nearby every time you go onto social media.
Now that you have your brand’s personality nailed down, you want people to interact with your brand (after all, that is what this is all about), it’s time to start posting consistently and responding timely.
2 – Post Consistently & Respond Timely
An essential part to growing your online following is to post consistently and respond timely. You have the option to choose how consistent you want to post. Multiple factors factor into this decision such as how much time you have (and want) to spend on social media and which platform(s) you will be utilizing. The wide array of social media platforms means there are separate levels of effort required to post one piece of content. For example, a YouTube video is going to take longer to film, edit, and upload a video than a Facebook post that only requires you to type a paragraph or two. So, figure out how much time you are willing to spend on your brand’s social media, compare it to which platforms will be best for your brand, and start posting consistently. A general rule is to post once a week at minimum.
Once you start posting consistently and start to grow your online following, it is important for your community to feel like… well, a community! When people comment on your content, it is reasonable to assume they are expecting a timely response. Much like responding to an email or in-person interactions… if someone were to approach you in person and ask you a question, chances are you aren’t going to ignore them (unless you’re wearing your AirPods), so why would you keep someone waiting online? As a best practice, try to respond within 24 hours. One tip for faster responding is download whichever social media app onto your phone and turn on notifications for whenever someone interacts with your brand.
3 – No response is a response
There will, inevitably, be times when customers get upset and decide to take it up on social media to let you know. This can be in the form of angry comments on your posts or them posting on their social media channels about how much they dislike your brand. You can see this as an insult to your brand and decide not to respond or you can see this as an opportunity to respond to negative reviews and make it right with the customer. Whichever option you choose, you are still sending a message. And in my opinion, it’s always better to respond with a true message response than it is to have an upset customer decide the message themselves. The intentions of your messages will always shine through so take the opportunity and respond to those who took the time to share how they feel about your brand.
Meet John Benavidez!
Now it’s your turn to learn from this digital marketing professor. Meet John Benavidez next week, Tuesday, February 15, where he will be a guest speaker for Santa Fe Innovate’s Lunch & Learn session. Bring your social media questions for this Twitter-famous professor. Register HERE to receive the link to Zoom.
