IT Solutions Providers: Shhh, Here's The Secret Behind Every Great Social Media Strategy

By Jody Costa, Director of Marketing, Barcoding, Inc.

Somewhere along the line, someone in your organization probably said, “Hey, we need to get on social media!” So maybe someone set up a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and LinkedIn profile. Maybe you even updated these a few times. But chances are, if I asked how your social media program was going, I would be met with a less than unenthusiastic response … it takes too much time; we’re out of content; it’s too expensive; (and my personal favorite) it’s just not working.

But here’s the thing — all of these excuses miss the point entirely. In fact, thinking that you have to “do social media” is completely wrong. Here’s the secret that all successful companies realize — social media isn’t a part of your business. It’s not something you do separate from everything else. Social media IS your business. It is, plain and simple, how we communicate with people in our ecosystem, from partners to employees to customers.

Let’s run down the most popular social networks and how they are used.

• Facebook — appropriate if you need to communicate on a personal level, especially through photos. Great for cultivating your unique brand (especially with employees) and for relaxing a bit in your communication style.
• LinkedIn — appropriate for all businesses, this is your face to the largest professional community in the world. Use this like you would a business meeting with potential and existing clients. Also use this to highlight employee and customer stories.
• Twitter — appropriate for real-time communication with a large variety of interested parties. Twitter is especially good for events because it encourages “chatting” with the use of hashtags.
• Google+ — used to communicate with Google and to boost SEO, although there are some pockets of communities using G+.
• Instagram — appropriate for brands with strong visual appeal and active visual-based users. I would use it to tell stories in picture format.
• Pinterest — also appropriate for brands with strong visual appeal. Also potentially useful for product-based brands (especially considering the new “buyable pins”).

As you can see, not all of these sites are appropriate for all businesses. You have to think about your involvement on any of these networks from the view of your target audience.

1. Ask yourself first, “Where would I go to talk to my people (i.e., my customers, prospects, partners, and employees)?”
2. Then, ask yourself, “How would I talk to these people in these particular settings?” (Establish tone.)
3. Finally, ask yourself, “What conversations to do I want to have or what do I want to share with these people?” With this perspective, content should never be a problem — if you are actively engaged with your community, conversation should flow naturally. Let’s face it, you know your business better than anyone, so start talking! Curate content from different departments in your business, pick pieces of existing content and use in new and different ways, curate content from different industry journals, ask solid questions, take photos, republish others, respond to inquiries, propose new ideas, share employee/customer stories, share community involvement, etc.

When you redefine social media as communication (no different than email, phone, or in-person), and not as something to check off a marketing list, your focus changes completely on the where, how, and what to share. It also changes how you view the impact on your organization.

To measure impact, look at a collection of metrics like: brand uplift, website analytics, engagement statistics, “lead” creation (I’d clarify this to include new community members including new customers, partners, content creators, or employees), employee satisfaction, customer retention, revenue, and so on. You’ll need to review these in aggregate as well to get a full picture of impact — what I like to call “blended ROI.” Finally, just like you wouldn’t measure a conversation with a person after an initial “hello,” you also shouldn’t expect results on social networks to be immediate. Building trust, credibility, and authority takes time online just as it does offline.

Good luck and happy communicating!