THE average internet user spends over two hours a day on social media sites. And that’s a huge opportunity for Irish businesses.
Social media networks are a great channel to connect with customers and build thriving communities. These channels may be low cost on the surface, but there’s no doubt that they can be both confusing and time consuming, requiring significant research, knowledge, skills and management if they are to be used effectively.
So, how can Irish businesses cut through the noise?
The first step is to establish where social media can deliver returns for your business. Start by identifying where you can make the gains. There are many ways to draw value from social, including:
• Increasing brand awareness
• Leveraging customer engagement
• Generating leads
Once you’ve determined your objectives, establishing the quantifiable element of these is key. Don’t get preoccupied with all the sites out there. Choose the one which is the best to support your campaign. A good way to breakdown the key channels is to use a table like this:
PLATFORM AUDIENCE ADVANTAGE KEY TOOLS
Twitter 365 million users Best for short-term promotions and customer service Hootsuite, Twitonomy
Instagram 1 billion active users Perfect for millennials and Generation Z Instagram Feed WD, Social Insight
Facebook 2 billion active users Family-oriented messaging Agora Pulse, Facebook Page Barometer
LinkedIn Over 500 million users Best for a B2B focus LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Plugins
Pinterest 250 million active users Primarily a female audience Tailwind, Viraltag
So for step three, what do you need?
Content powers social media, so having a clear content calendar that guides your campaign is crucial. Ask yourself, what has worked well in the past; how established are you on each platform and what are your competitors doing? Can you turn to your customers to provide content and help start debates on key issues?
It’s also worth spending a few minutes looking into the rules of the platform(s) you’re using. Facebook has become far stricter on rules of where you can run your promotions, for example.
Now you have decided who to target, which channels to use and the campaign message – it’s just a simple case of execution, right? The things to consider at this point are:
• Is your tone of voice consistent with your brand values?
• What analytics tools will you use and how frequently will you monitor them?
• How will you deal with comments or any potential criticism?
Step is understanding if you’ve been successful.
In the first instance, social media can return both qualitative and quantitative data. Likes and retweets exist alongside genuine customer opinions can be really informative.
Longer term, with millions of people embracing social media as part of their buying process (a CIM survey found that 70 per cent of consumers consult online reviews before buying a product or service), the ability to use social channels to influence and drive sales is more critical then ever. Ask yourself, what’s not to ‘like’.
:: Eileen Curry is chair of CIM Ireland
