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 both promotes the brand and allows direct engagement with clients. The following tips can help you put together a social media strategy that keeps you tuned in to what your clients want.

• • 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 on a daily or weekly basis. Monthly planning is not recommended because it important to keep your messages fresh and relevant.
  • Identify social tools: Jot down a list of the tools and/or resources you’ll need to support social media marketing efforts and break out the cost. It is important to understand 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, but its greater value is as a vehicle for having a conversation with your clients. Avoid overt sales messages in your social media posts and tweets. Instead, use these venues as a place 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 useful - Post material that's useful, informative or entertaining. Provide material that your clients can use, such as suggestions on using your products or services, how-to articles or industry insights. If you find your social messages are getting 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 are likely to 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 and full of the latest relevant information.
  • Size up the competition - Look at your three or four main competitors make a note of 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 are responding to their audience. Sizing up the competition gives you an idea on what is working for them and allows you to use similar tactics.
  • Make it easy to contact you - Include important contact information on your Facebook page and in other social media venues where it's appropriate. Include business addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. The easier it is for clients to contact you, the more likely it is you'll hear from them.
  • Time it right - Make new posts and tweets at the right time. Business clients are more likely to see new material if it's posted during lunch, a few minutes before or after the hour, or in the evening. Ultimately, timing techniques really get down to knowing your target audiences, or client personas. They are unique; test different posting times and evaluate what seems to be working best. Additionally, it is important to really get frequency right. You do not want to annoy your fans or followers. 

  You will find your social media marketing strategy should evolve over time. You’ll find some tactics work better than others. It is important to quickly adjust and introduce new changes to your strategy in a timely manner. If you liked this article, you may 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 section below.

  Contact Colosi Marketing today for more information on creating and implementing a successful social media strategy.

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