The Role of Social Media

The main role for using social media as part of an overall digital marketing strategy is to focus on relationship-building, brand recognition and trust, which are also important aspects of all marketing strategies.

However, there are three qualities about social media communications which set it apart from other marketing medias, whether digital or not:

1. Relationships are built where the client or prospect likes to be.
2. Relationships are built in the manner the client or prospect prefers.
3. Only a small fraction of social media interaction should be directly promotional about your business.

We’ll take these points one by one below.

1. Relationships are built where the client or prospect likes to be

Social media marketing must be guided by our clients or prospects to be successful. By definition, social media, is social and is driven by the enjoyment of the client taking part in a social experience on the platform of their choice. Not our choice. Learning where our client likes to hang out online is the first requirement to selecting social media platforms that suit our business needs. For example, you may love SnapChat, but as it is a platform aimed at young people, if your business is selling health care aids to seniors, it is probably not the best match!

Tip: Find out where your client/prospect likes to be online, and then select from those platforms.

2. Relationships are built in the manner the client or prospect prefers

Again, social media, is about being social, and as such mimics social interaction. Conversations are short, to the point, friendly in tone (well, they should be) and often casual. We’ve all had friends who call us up too frequently, talk about subjects we’re not interested in, and demand our attention far too much.

Tip: Don’t model your business social media accounts off the “bad” friend! Be the “good” friend: be specific, be friendly, be short, be human, and even be funny (in an appropriate manner, of course).

3. Only a small fraction of social media interaction should be directly promotional about your business

This is one that business owners tend to misunderstand. Let’s apply the general 80/20 rule – or even a 90/10 one. In this case, only 10-20% of your social media posts should be directly promotional about your business. So what does that mean? A promotional post would be: “10% discount today!” or “here’s a link to my service” or “this is why my product is great!” or “share my website with your friends”. Going back to that notion that social media is about being social, if your friend only talked about how great they were when you met them, how often would you want to socialize? The answer is probably “Not often” and in social media, it would result in you being unfollowed, unliked, or even blocked.

Tip: For every 10 posts, create only 1 that highlights your products or services in some way. All the others should focus on the bigger picture that puts the follower first. There will be further tips in this component about how to do this.