Since social media is an ever-changing field, it is a full time job to keep up with constant updates and new trends. Today’s social media marketer must go into every platform with an open and reactive mindset, meaning they have to be both exceptionally adaptive and most importantly, flexible.
Requirements for Successful Social Media
Customer Service Issues
While most companies use social media campaigns to attract and nurture customers, these platforms can become unexpected channels for resolving customer service issues. Since social media is on the front lines of communication with customers, when an issue arises and customers are not satisfied, your social channels are usually the first place that people will go to contact you. As your community grows, you will find that your social channels turn into a community where people come to discuss stories and tips for using your products and services. Don’t rule out any possibilities when it comes to your social media pages, and always be prepared to adjust your strategy and approach based on what people best respond to and remember to communicate with your audience and acknowledge them when they are having issues or questions about your products.
National Tragedies
Unexpected tragedies that shake up the human race worldwide undoubtedly occur, and as brands that want to be seen as humanized and people oriented, we must acknowledge that these tragedies affect our brands and the people behind them, thus they must be prepared to have a reactive response. We believe that in most cases, the best response to a tragedy is to take a respectable pause from social media. You don’t want your message to be lost in the noise or worse, misconstrued as being insensitive. Our general rule of thumb is to monitor news streams and trending hashtags to decide when a pause is appropriate. There are also some instances, when a tragedy is extremely close to home or has some relation to your brand, that is it appropriate to offer condolences of some sort. These are times when it is crucial to be flexible. Rescheduling your planned content likely won’t affect your brand, and it’s best to avoid possible PR issues.
Analytics Indicate a Change
Analytics are your friend when it comes to social media strategy. It’s important to be aware of changes in your numbers so that you can react accordingly. If your link clicks are down, video views don’t show promise or your community size isn’t where you want it to be, try taking a deeper look at your analytics to identify those areas of opportunity and why they may have changed. More than likely, whatever your concerns are will be easy to fix if you just pay close attention. Occasionally an update may have an effect on this, or it may just be a change in strategy that hasn’t served your brand well! Flexibility is key to knowing what you should change and how you can adapt to your audience’s needs.
Whether you are just beginning your social media journey or you’ve been around the block, a flexible, adaptive social media strategy will allow you to react to whatever is thrown your way. The secret is having an open mind and most of all, a plan.
Are you contemplating working with a social media resource to help you maximize performance? Ask yourself these questions before you do anything else!
Feel like your team could use a little additional social expertise on your side in 2020? Check out our wealth of social media posts on The Core, or reach out to us for a free marketing consultation.
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