With millions of clients and prospective clients spending hours on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, a wise professional services firm will create a social media strategy that promotes the brand and allows direct engagement with clients. The following tips can help you create a social media strategy that keeps you tuned to your client's wants.
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- Develop a social team: Develop a social team to increase productivity. Assign specific roles to support your overall social media strategy. You may choose to have your team plan posts daily or weekly, and monthly planning is not recommended because it is essential to keep your messages fresh and relevant.
- Identify social tools: List the tools and resources needed to support social media marketing efforts and break out the cost. Understanding the projected cost that will be applied to your marketing budget. Inevitably, you will have to report the value of these activities.
- Talk, don't sell: The temptation may be great to use social media as another avenue for business development. Still, its greater value is as a vehicle for conversing with your clients. Avoid overt sales messages in your social media posts and tweets. Instead, use these venues to give your clients updates, tell them about your firm, and solicit feedback and commentary. Offer giveaways, exclusive deals, and other appealing and valuable promotions.
- Be helpful: Post material that's useful, informative, or entertaining. Provide material your clients can use, such as suggestions for using your products or services, how-to articles, or industry insights. If your social messages get little engagement, you should reevaluate whether these messages are relevant to your target client personas or ideal client profile. Existing clients will appreciate the new information, and potential clients will likely be impressed that you offer genuine extra value with your social media content. When your social message addresses your client’s pain points or daily concerns, you keep their interest and nurture solid relationships.
- Stay focused: Decide which social media platforms will work best for your business and focus on those. Social media messages should also be geared toward meeting your business goals. Evaluate your firm’s annual business goals and develop a social strategy accordingly.
Recognize the overall brand message you want to convey and stick to social media activity that promotes and encourages that message. Keep your Facebook page and other social media sites updated with relevant information. - Size up the competition: Look at your three or four main competitors and note their participation on their social channels. Evaluate their strategy, number of fans or followers, and post frequency and timing. Observe the type of content they are posting and how they respond to their audience. Sizing up the competition gives you an idea of what works for them and allows you to use similar tactics.
- Make it easy to contact you: Include important contact information on your Facebook page and other social media venues where appropriate. Include business addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. The easier it is for clients to contact you, the more likely you'll hear from them.
- The time is right: Make new posts and tweets at the right time. Business clients are more likely to see new material posted during lunch, a few minutes before or after the hour, or in the evening. Ultimately, timing techniques get down to knowing your target audiences or client personas. They are unique; test different posting times and evaluate what works best. Additionally, it is vital to get the frequency right. You do not want to annoy your fans or followers.
- Your social media marketing strategy should evolve. You’ll find some tactics work better than others, and promptly adjusting and introducing new changes to your strategy is essential. If you liked this article, you might also want to read 3 Easy Ways to Boost Your Social Media Presence and Following.
Are you developing a social media strategy? What tools will you use? We’d love to learn about your ideas or comments in our comments below.
Contact Colosi Marketing today for more information on creating and implementing a successful social media strategy.
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