17 tips for integrating social media into brand promotion scheme

Have you ever ridden a roller coaster? No! Then have a ride and go back to the article. You have to fasten your seatbelts and resign yourself to the fatality of social media rails which you are going to ride on. It starts slowly and you can calmly seat in a cabin, then the cars round the brow of a hill and you cannot control your face, body position, your thoughts – hurtle downwards helplessly and there is no control lever. Think before you sit down – whether you are ready to stand it till the end or get cold feet right before the brown of a hill.

Working with networking websites is a huge social responsibility, followers of your pages, profiles, news feeds, walls, tweets, magazines and blogs start consuming publications from you. Followers hope for fresh and unique material approach, not old posts of third parties. Ask me why I am showing off – I will answer: I have managed to become one of the top viewed LinkedIn profiles. Show your ticket and have a seat.

First what you should know about – the World Wide Web is no place for amateurs. There are millions of participants with their own goals, objectives, ambitions and hopes – everyone compete for being noticed on an equal footing. A river, infested with salmon jumping up the falls, is miserable compared to Niagara of posts of myriad people, trademarks and companies striving for jumping up higher to show for a second glowing scales of likes and reposts and a second later dive into the cloudy stream of the feed.

Second, free is a na?ve misconception. You have to spend money for sure – giving a salary to an employee, promotion experts, agents or to pay for advertisement. You cannot devote spare efforts or free time to social media. Imagine everyone come to Vienna Opera Ball in beautiful gowns and classic suits and you hope to come in pajamas. It is not just apathy; it is desperate recklessness.

Third, there are no guarantees and money is never enough. Famous name, thickness of a portfolio, brightness of previous cases is similar to stories about exorbitant earnings as a result of investing in an asset management fund – they usually earn more than on deposits. The key word is usually. Sometimes they omit this, funds crumble into dust but it is not mentioned when new clients are attracted for a payment. You will have to dangle your feet in muddy water of chatty conversations to understand basics of virtuality.

Fourth, loyal employees are the best friends. The beginning will be tough, complicated and lingering. A ready-made page is lonely without initial support like an invited girl comes to a party where the birthday boy is drunk and forgot to ask someone to take care of the charming guest. However, if your profile gets support prior to entering the Net like a lady, you will be accepted as one of their own. A refusal to support can point out the absence of your friends and compassionate people, then appeal to the second and third point.

Fifth, activity is important, not the size. A million of followers does not cost anything if your posts show holes of single views like dazzling white smile with straight teeth and missing central incisor. Usefulness of your profile is determined as the ratio of the active database – number of weekly reacting people to the passive one – number of subscribers. It is not just about followers; it is about your publications – you can post cheap photos of your pets or bikini models, but nobody figures out that you sell rovers and hunting equipment. Google the word “relevancy”.

Sixth, the core of success is voluntarism. Gaining followers is easy, send thousands of friend requests and hundreds of disinterested people become friends like dead mosquitos on windshield. Stuck flies are usually removed by wipers, these dry little bodies fall off, but it is shortsighted – it is vain to see enormous digits of dead souls. Those, who joined purposefully, followed on their own initiative because the brand, the product, the content is interesting, are alive.

Seventh, take the responsibility for actions. Going online you become a bedbug on white sheets – visible from a distance and cannot crawl into a hole. We screw our eyes up because of the light of described impressions of the contact with us and bravely crawl to the target – promoting fame. Trolls will poison by dichlorvos passing by, angry customers will throw slippers, inadequate ones will shout and cunning ones will manipulate. Some get bored in front of computer, others see an opportunity to build personal brand at the expense of your trademark, third ones extort discounts and favors. You have to elaborate a communication policy and do not retreat one iota. If make a concession, then get tons of it.

Eighth, estimate your potential. Determine your list of websites which you need to conquer, do not waste your time on hills, start with the eight-thousanders (the highest mountains in the world). Create a table where all networks are in the heading, employees – in the first column and expected activity estimated in points – in intersections:
0 – not registered;
1 – a passive participant – rarely logs in and/or does not post or comment publications;
2 – does something at least once in a month;
3 – regular weekly activity;
4 – is active in the Net several times a week;
5 – is always active and/or generate own content.

The sum of a column determines your initial potential in the specific network, sort the columns in descending order of the final number and start promoting the brand with the first columns. The sum of the row shows engagement and proficiency of the employees, sort the rows in descending order and start working with leaders of the ranking who can support first. From the table above:
- I would recommend to start brand promotion with Twitter and Facebook;
- Most useful are Employee 2 and Employee N.

Ninth, predict feedback. It is necessary to think constantly what you post. The most common mistake is posting something that is interesting to the company, the brand, the marketing manager. If the feed of your posts gains stably a low number of virtual encouraging feedbacks, then it is time to change the tactic. The feed is not an honor roll of employees in signature clothes, not an iconostasis of executives and not a showcase where the same shoes are taken photos from different angles. The feed is your news channel to communicate with a client – post materials that are interesting to the final consumer. Start experimenting with employees:

The system of evaluation should take into consideration two measurements – the fastest reaction is more valuable; the value of actions is sorted in descending order: comment, share, like:

Multiplying the tables results in getting the value of actions of each employee and summing them – integral usefulness of a person in the Net. As we sum the columns showing the value of actions we get the speed of reacting. In the table below:
- Employee N is four times useful in the Net than Employee 2;
- 69% of the value of brand support by the group shows in the first day.

Tenth, diversify the content. The post with the same idea in different social network websites inevitably causes a disappointment. There are two basic options: different people are responsible for different social media websites coordinating their actions or apply different legends of profiles if you work alone:

Working in a team is easier, funnier and more interesting. Conquering the Internet on your own is harder because you will have to switch your profile approaching each website. You log into Facebook, look up in the clue (the table above), recall the legend: Andrew, 30 years old, …, interested in cats, impersonate him and create posts. Log out of Facebook, log into VKontakte, introduce yourself: Maria, 25 years old, …, personal development, and publish another information despite we are promoting the same event, reason, product, person. Photo, headline, text is differentiated because they are generated by “different” people.

Eleventh, create a hierarchy. Choose an umbrella brand, which covers objects of the marketing interest with a huge sheet, determine trademarks showing the vertical core and create the calendar of actions out of the handle flexible to network changes. Monumental quarterly events of the umbrella brand should be posted in all network websites, important or monthly – in the top profiles of the core brands, the rest – randomly every week.

For 12 social media websites you have to create eight hundred of news reasons during a year. Measuring in 240 days (including a monthly vacation) means the requirement to generate ten posts every three days.

Twelfth, follow the pace. Uniformity of interesting, not irritating posts, which appearance in the profiles is reasonable, creates the impression of stability, thoroughness and enhanced credibility. Sudden outbreaks of activity rotation with unexpected silence in the Net on the contrary compromise the brand. Plan and follow the established schedule. You can post in advance, if you have no reason to announce, or suspend, if the calendar is full.

Thirteenth, listen and react. Read every post directly or indirectly related to the objects of your marketing interest and look for an opportunity to commit both virtual and real acts in favor of the brand. Create portraits of interests of the most active participants, have a sheet in a notebook for everyone to make conversations more personalized: there is nothing better than a chat between two mates. Show humanity and personal interest, read the previous posts before replying so the reaction will be adequate and consequent.

Fourteenth, encourage your defenders. Sooner or later advocates of the brand show up – citizens of the Net, who will protect the brand from attacks and they are not your employees. Those who are idealizing the brand staunchly defend it till you will make a mistake towards them – treat them with special respect, congratulate them on their Birthday, invite for special events. Perhaps it is one of the best of marketing budget applications – investing in thankful, talkative and influential clients.

Fifteenth, put trolls in place. The mistake of a strategy, product, employee, competitors’ actions and greed can destroy the brand in the Net. Ask for help – in private messages ask loyal employees and advocates of the brand. Calm down generating a symmetrical verbal storm – a plenty of correct posts which are equal or bigger by the number or the sum of characters than the negative ones. Trolls and other web brutes should be noted so they cannot have privileges accessing the marketing budget.

Sixteenth, say thanks. An author of every positive feedback, suggestion and request should feel the dialogue, do not leave friends alone with “hung” phrases. Warmly and friendly show that you have read, understood the value of the comment and thanked for tenderness. I would recommend to implement the ranking of participants adding points for the frequency, the style, the constructive approach and the friendly chat.

You can send special insider emails to the top of sorted list, create a monthly board of clients turning them into advocates.

Seventeenth, be generous. Send a t-shirt to another city, present a mug, send a bouquet of flowers, it obviously costs money, but it is worth money if users who have a lot of friends post a photo of the new t-shirt or the pleasant gift. Conduct contests of composing a song, a poetry, a slogan, a sketch, a packaging prototype. Ask your audience what should be changed in the next product versions, how to improve the brand and if you should enter a new city. Always when this is appropriate give away prizes, gifs, tickets, promo codes, discounts especially when people do something useful. Give pointers where you need help and do not skimp on rewards.

Integrating social media into brand promotion scheme looks like comprehensive and regular trainings in a gym – you have to systematically work out every single muscle till harmony condition so bones of structure of the content generation do not puff out. Timeliness and foresight of publications should create an illusion of easiness, consistency and development. Veil, rigidity, vigour, surprise – the entire range of feelings which is appropriate to people because they communicate with the brand in the Net.

Author: Oleg Braginsky
Translation: Marina Alexandrova
Source: Retail Loyalty