The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
There’s already a ton of content out there in the social sphere, so adding a few posts here and there won’t hurt anybody, right? Wrong. Each post should be carefully crafted to reach your consumers, but how can you tell the difference between the good posts and bad posts?
Last Spring I was on a food brand’s Facebook page, and it had a post wishing me and other visitors a “Happy Arbor Day.” There was absolutely no linkage between the brand and trees. But they had an imperative do a post, and hey, the calendar said April 24th was Arbor Day. Now, we have nothing against Arbor Day, but the post was lazy and unimaginative…and had no relevance to their customer. Too much of this is a bad thing.
The Secret Social Media Sauce
We see many brands on social media that post a lot of educational info and product facts, and then wonder why this content doesn’t appeal to followers. As the old adage goes: Logic makes you think; emotion makes you buy. We’re not saying you should skip the product info, but you do need to make it interesting.
So here’s what you do: Listen to your consumers so you can find out what makes them tick, and then connect with them on an emotional level. Share content that they’ll engage with, not just dry facts and coupons they’ll use and forget, or worse, ignore.
Before you share anything, ask yourself: “Will my customers care about this, and why?”
Use research and consumer insights to determine what emotion to trigger, e.g., joy, humor, sadness or anger. For some, it means posting real-time messaging using humor to get a reaction, or creating custom imagery in the style and voice of the brand’s campaign ads – with a focus on what customers care about. For others, it means contributing to online discussions where consumers find your input valuable and relevant. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them.
5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Social Activity
- Create a clear profile of your customers. We’re not talking just demographics, but lifestyle, interests and passions.
- Learn all about the community that your customers live and breathe in.
- Create a comprehensive strategy, including: a competitive analysis, desired tone and style, development of content themes, visual/copy ideas, stocks (articles/blogs) and flow (daily posts) content, a media plan for paid advertising, and a plan for owned and earned media.
- Execute the strategy.
- Listen, adapt (if something isn’t working, change it) and get better.