Even though it isn't new, social media continues to be an enigma. Some businesses struggle with how to leverage it effectively because they want to use it as a sales tool. Some business owners think that the ability to manage social media is an indicator of one's marketing prowess. But, it's not. To really understand the role of social media channels, you need to rethink your approach to marketing. Try thinking of marketing a systematic approach by which an enterprise can manage individual relationships en masse.
Consider this: a brand is not a logo. A brand is an individual's total experience with a product or service. If you've articulated your brand strategy, you have also defined how you anticipate your customer will experience that relationship. If you haven't already done this, it's worth taking the time to at least complete the brand pyramid shown here. It isn't easy, but it is simple.
Brand Essence: What is your unique value proposition. Can you unequivocally claim it? Can you provide proof to support it? If you can keep it short enough, this can become your "tagline."
Brand Persona: When a customer interacts with your brand (product or service, staff, customer service, and communications), what type of personality will they experience? Use only four or five words that describe your brand as if it were a person.
Emotional Benefits: When a customer interacts with you, consumes your product or experiences your service, how do you want them to feel? Relieved, soothed, excited, exhilarated? Will it be a fleeting feeling, or will it last?
Functional Benefits: What will change in your target audiences life once they purchase your product or services? What do you actually do for them? Help them loose weight, live longer, save more money? What will be the benefit they receive from your product or service?
Features and Attributes: This is a description of your product or service. The features are pieces of functionality - like halogen headlight are a feature of most automobiles these days. Your attributes are the core values that define the overall nature of your company.
Even though you've defined your brand's personality, it is essential to remember that an individual cannot have a relationship with your business. A business is an economic unit and, as such, is incapable of interaction. But people have relationships with your brand through those who work for your company and all the other touch-points involved in consuming your product or service.
Your prospects and customers interact with your business through marketing communications, transactions, and customer service. You have already been managing these relationships via systematic processes: staff training, quality control, customer service, vendor relationships, and marketing communications. Social media are just another tactic through which you can continue to manage a large number of relationships in a nearly real-time, proactive, and systematic way.
Social media channels are mechanisms that enable your brand to engage with your customers by maintaining an outlet through which customers can converse and by revealing your organization's authentic character. When you are developing your social media strategy, don't think of it in terms of sales, brand awareness, or even ROI - although you should expect to positively impact at least one of these areas of your business through your social media strategy.
Instead, think about how you would like your customer to talk about and experience your products, services, or staff. How would you want them to describe your brand? And how is that different from what they are currently saying? The only way you'll know that is if you employ social media channels as listening devices. Yes, listening is integral to maintaining a meaningful relationship, and social media channels allow you to do this more proactively than ever before.
Once you've considered all these factors, put it into personal terms – after all, we all have a brand. You manage your personal brand every day – whether intentionally or not. So, apply the same strategy to your business brand to help attract and engage qualified prospects. Questions to consider: what type of person would your brand be most attractive to (target audience)? Where would your brand most likely meet that person (channel selection)? What would be an effective way to start a conversation with that type of person (content)? How often do you think that person would want to hear from your brand (frequency)?
And, as with human relationships, there needs to be chemistry for the connection to work long-term. What does your brand want to get from the relationship (goal setting)? Why would that person want to continue hearing from your brand (strategic planning)? This is the real "meat" of social media strategy because let's face it: it's one thing to hook a customer and another to keep them. So the last question needs to be: How will you know your brand's relationships are thriving (measurement)?
Once you've answered these questions, figuring out how to incorporate all the appropriate channels into your overall marketing strategy should be relatively simple and result in more meaningful engagement.
Comments