Social media is an exploding trend that is transforming how companies spend their marketing budgets to reach their consumers. The ability to reach such a large audience almost effortlessly is very appealing to businesses trying to promote their brands. Time and time again, we have seen examples of how Social Media = ROI.
I recently sat down and wrote out four key traits you must have to develop your brand using social media. It didn’t take me very long to notice that all of these words began with the letter ‘C’, which is nice because maybe it’ll be easier for you to remember them. Here they are, the 4 C’s of developing your brand using social media.
Consistency
One thing you must do is be consistent across all social networks. You want there to be one message and one look for your brand. This allows you to portray your brand the way you want and your audience will get out of it what you want them to. Here are a couple of the key places you need to maintain this consistency:
Twitter Background
You need to have a professionally designed, custom made Twitter background for people to take your brand seriously. This can be whatever you want it to be, so long as it displays the traits or your company/brand.
Facebook Fan Page
If you don’t have one, I suggest you get a Facebook fan page for your social brand. This allows you to tap into Facebook’s wealth of users and maintain a uniform brand message. When creating your page, you can set up a custom welcome tab with graphics similar to your Twitter background.
Communication
Probably the number one rule of utilizing social media is to communicate with your audience effectively. After all, these websites/tools were built on the principle of allowing better communication.
What do I mean when I say ‘communicate effectively’?
- Engage your audience
- Listen to their opinions
- Ask them questions
- Collect feedback
Creativity
If you want your brand to be noticed, creativity is a must. Not only should you be creative with the look and feel of your brand, but you should be creative with how you market it as well.
Contests
Want your content or message to go viral? Hold a contest. Make sure that you get something that your audience will want, whether it be an information product (i.e. ebook, video) or a physical product (camcorder, iPad).
Give them multiple ways to enter this contest so they can win the prize. Ask them to tweet your message to enter or to become a fan on your Facebook page. Be creative here!
Giveaways
Another exciting way to be creative is by using giveaways. I don’t care who your audience or target demographic is—everyone likes free stuff. Like with contests, give them something of value.
Constant Adaptation
In the world of web 2.0, you have to keep your eyes open constantly for the next big thing. Although it is imperative that you maintain a presence on the biggest social networks like Twitter and Facebook, there are tons of smaller networks that still have a powerful user base.
I’m talking about the communities like FriendFeed and StumbleUpon. While they don’t have hundreds of millions of users (yet) they do have millions of users, so make your presence felt in these smaller markets as well.
Look at Google Buzz. It seemingly just sprang up out of nowhere in the last week and already has millions of users. I know this is mostly due to its integration with Gmail, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your due diligence and investigate how it can help you develop your social brand.
Conclusion
There you have it, the 4 C’s. If you follow these simple guidelines, you are well on your way to becoming a master social community manager. I would like to note that possessing these traits aren’t just crucial for establishing your social brand but important for all marketing strategies in general.
If you can be consistent, creative, and you constantly adapt and communicate with your audience, you will be very popular in a short amount of time.
What do you think? Are there any other C’s or other important traits you should have? Leave your thoughts, comments, and ideas below!