Search Engine Optimization

If you are still “testing the waters” when it comes to social media marketing, you are behind the times. Social media marketing has matured passed the trial-and-error phase and has become a critical component of any online marketing campaign. Some web marketing experts have even said they would be willing to give up their website over their social profiles if they had to choose (not something I would recommend doing, for the record). The point is that just about everyone knows they need to get a social media marketing campaign under way, but many are still a little fuzzy on the hard details.

Here are 3 tips to better manage your social media marketing campaign:

1. Create bios first
Every social network, big or small, lets users create a profile description about themselves. However, each network has a very different idea about the kind of information you get to share and how much space you have to do it in. Look at Facebook and Twitter, for instance. Facebook gives you a practically limitless amount of space to introduce your company and your brand. Twitter gives you about two sentences. To both streamline the process of creating social networking profiles and guarantee that the information and messaging are consistent, develop several different profiles of varying lengths before you begin your campaign.

2. Decide who will be your “voice”
Just about every marketing department has a viable claim as to why they should manage your social media marketing campaign. PR claims they should be in charge because they are used to being the public voice of your company. The SEO expert says he should be in charge because he knows how to use social media to create a strong link portfolio and online brand presence. The creative team, brand manager and so forth all have similar reasons. It doesn’t matter who you decide to hand the reigns to, just make sure you make someone in charge of and accountable for goes out through your social profiles. Having one person in charge will make sure your branding stays intact and your messaging consistent.

3. Branch out from the Big 3
You have to be on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you only have to be on those networks. There are literally hundreds of smaller, niche networks for you to develop a community. Just because they are small, that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable! There might even be a social network that directly appeals to your audience, potentially making it more powerful than any other network you could join. Just remember that if you join a network, there is much more value in taking the time to actually build a community around your brand. If you just are creating profiles to get a link, you aren’t doing much to add real value to your campaign.

These 3 tips are just to get the ball rolling on your social media marketing campaign. Obviously it takes a lot of work and time to manage a successful social media campaign. But that is a blog post for another day.

There is no denying that social media marketing has become an intrinsic part of anyone online marketing campaign. In fact, social media marketing is making its way into offline marketing efforts as well. Radio ads tell listeners to Like companies on Facebook, TV commercials close with a Twitter hashtag and more. Social media marketing is here to stay!

As social media as matured, companies have learned that just having a Facebook page or LinkedIn profile isn’t enough, they actually have to DO something with those networks. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has to happen in order to make a social media marketing campaign successful. Not every company is equipped to handle the daily grind of a social media marketing campaign, which is way many turn their social media management over to outside firms and consultants.

Here are 3 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your social media marketing management

1. Time
Social media marketing takes an enormous amount of time if you want to do it right. Plenty of companies just don’t have the flexibility in their schedule to add social media management into the mix. Here is how time could be a factor:

• Your audience is active outside of the 9-5 day
• You have to manage multiple accounts (meaning every action has to be repeated across each account)
• You can’t sacrifice other daily activities to make room for social media management

From a personal perspective, I can easily spend 2 hours every morning just on social media management for my own company. That doesn’t include anything particularly fancy or creative either. Luckily, I have a great staff to help me manage our social media marketing so I can concentrate on other aspects of the business and focus on client work.

2. Content
Not every business owner or marketer is a great copywriter, nor do they have to be. But a lot of social media marketing relies on producing and promoting great content. If you don’t have the writing skills or creative mindset to create engaging content, then outsource your social media management to a company that has writers on staff. They’ll be responsible for creating a steady stream of quality content that will help you engage and connect with your social network.

3. Expertise
Social media is still a relatively new field of marketing, and a lot of business owners don’t really know where to go or what they should be doing with it. The time for trial and error in social media has passed. Businesses are expected to abide by certain rules of social media. If you don’t know what they are, it’s easy to make a social faux pas and you company could suffer before it.
Outsourcing your social media management to an expert means you don’t have to worry about it.

It has to be said that, just like in the world of SEO, just about anyone can call themselves a social media “expert.” Social media marketing is too important to entrust in the hands of just anyone. Your online brand and reputation could be severely damaged if you send your social media marketing management off into the void of “experts.” Do your own research to find the best fit for your company

Social media marketing is one of the more recent additions to SEO. In the last few years it’s grown from an online medium reserved mostly for college kids and early adopters to an integral part of Fortune 500 companies’ marketing strategy. It seems that every business and brand has at least a Facebook page or Twitter handle. More and more professionals are creating LinkedIn profiles for themselves and their businesses. Brick and mortar business are adopting location-based social networking platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla to reward patrons and YouTube has become just as popular for companies to promote their products as it is for posting skateboarding dogs.

The younger generations are typically deemed to be more comfortable with the ever changing and adapting social media landscape, so some companies have opted to put their social media marketing management into the hands of their “Twitern” ( an intern brought in to handle the company’s Twitter account and be the wizard behind the social networking curtain). I think this is a mistake.

A company’s social media strategy ties directly into their overall marketing strategy, as well as effecting their online reputation. Social media marketing is too important of a task to place in the hands of an intern. Let’s be honest, they are probably working for free (or one of the lucky few for college credit), are only going to be there for a few months and probably aren’t incredibly invested in the success of your company. They are there to build their resume and get recommendations, which is fine. That’s why anyone is willing to work for free under the guise of “intern.” But do you really want to hand you online presence over to that?

You social media marketing should be handled by a permanent employee (or outside agency) that truly understands your brand, business model and online marketing goals. They will be in charge of your online voice and personality, so they better know what they are talking about. Effectively managing a social media marketing strategy takes countless hours, because it has to constantly be monitored and updated. They have to understand the goal of each social networking profile, as well as the audience that uses that medium. Messages have to be tweaked to fit the style and format of each site, but the overall strategy has to work towards the same end goal.

Back in March, an employee at New Media Strategies (who was Chrysler’s social media agency at the time) dropped the F-bomb in a tweet from the @ChryslerAuto account, taking a shot at Detroit drivers. After deleting the tweet, Chrysler quickly fired New Media Strategies. Chances are the employee thought he was using his personal account to send the tweet, but accidentally posted from @ChryslerAuto. If a professional agency can make such a big mistake, what can happen when you hand the social media reigns over to someone who isn’t qualified to drive?

Social media allows you to directly interact with your consumers, so who is going to be doing the talking?