Social Media Strategy for 2013 – Part 2

As promised this is the second part of our London digital agency’s 3 part series on Social media Marketing. In part 1, we shared some of anticipated trends in social media for 2013. From our experience of social media strategies and campaigns that we used for our clients in 2012, this part of our article provides ideas, tips and suggestions for a successful campaign in 2013.

Leverage the power of Friends and Followers

Social media channels are great ways for any brand to interact with their customers; the transparency will naturally increase the trust in the brand and indirectly help promoting it. Research has shown that consumers are more likely to follow recommendations from their friends on social channels rather than simple advertisements. A very good way is to encourage your customers to write reviews and feedback on your social sites, which in the medium term can help in increasing sales.

Think beyond big players such as Facebook and Twitter

Undoubtedly the biggest players in social media for 2013 will continue to be Facebook and Twitter but when it comes to converting these social media options to sales, there are some other avenues as well which you should consider. You will be surprised but one such option is your very own blog. Latest research by ComScore suggests that 70% of users click from the blog to the specific corporate website. Our tip is that you should build your own social media channel which will be a hub for all your videos and images which will in turn be circulated to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Utilise the Power of Images

The term “A Picture is worth a thousand words” has never been more apt. Images are like magnets which will make it far easier to interact with your target audience. So our advice is to create an integrated content strategy for images and circulate it on social channels.

Be device independent

Since most of the customers nowadays are tech savvy and use mobile phones to access social media, you must have mobile strategy so that customer can access company’s site through social media. A complete device independentdigital strategy is very important now.

Integrate offline and online marketing

Many brands do some sort of offline marketing, whether it be radio, cable or print. Social marketing allows brands to blend their offline marketing with their online marketing. For example: a brand can include its Facebook page in offline ads thus inviting their customer to see their community, increase trust factor and also build a community data base.

Local Social networks

For a brand targeting only a particular area, local search networks can be a great place to find potential consumers and attract them towards your company’s business. To do this you should firstly register in local search directories. After all being visible to customers looking for business in your area is most important!

Contests and discounts

Building a community is just a part of social marketing. The key is how companies can use that community to drive traffic and increase sales. One way is to start some sort of contest, not only will it build buzz among your community members but if someone decides to share the contest or if some participant is required to write an article that gets most likes to win, then the contest can easily become viral and also create an organic buzz for your brand.

Creating an online presence and building fans might not be that difficult, but to actually get conversions from it may be an altogether different ball game. Let’s see what this year holds for the marketers.