What's Your Social Media Strategy

Omni. A Latin prefix for all; of all things. Part of a buzzword many marketers are familiar with; omni-channel marketing. Simplified, this means having a marketing plan with multiple forms of advertising and consumer touch points. Where a planned mix of broadcast, traditional radio, digital, social, and out of home all work under one umbrella to tell a brand story. While each execution is separate, the larger brand strategy remains the same. Omni-channel marketing has been used by most brands and agencies for years, but social media is a relative newcomer to the mix. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, became the “new shiny toy” for marketers. And just like the coming of digital, nobody knew how it fit into the marketing puzzle.

Social media is no longer the shiny new toy. It’s become intertwined with core marketing initiatives and is not only included in a marketer’s toolkit, but the infrastructure. With constant algorithm changes, new updates and new products being launched, this world can be pretty intimidating to those who don’t truly understand it. Unlike personal social media, it’s not as simple as “wake up and post whatever we feel like today.” Brand success in social media takes a thorough understanding of strategy, data analytics, and content creation.

Social communities can provide brands with practically an unlimited amount of FREE consumer insights and data. When analyzed correctly, this cache of valuable information can and should shape your future social content and even carve the way for larger business objectives. Vanity metrics such as impressions, likes, shares and retweets are being treated with increased suspicion and shouldn’t carry all the weight of success. One of the biggest mistakes brands can make on social media is to push what they want, rather than focus on what the consumer wants. Just because you want a consumer to respond to something, doesn’t always mean they will. Think user focus > company pride. The only way to tell this apart is to deep dive into social engagements, and do a thorough analysis to see what your fans respond to best.

At Brandience, not one social client has the same social strategy. We create brand focused strategies that are led by data and consumer engagement analysis. What sets us apart is that our social department lives within our media department. When media plans are created, social media is integrated with the entire marketing mix. Without a strategy, there is no guidance. Without Data, there is no proof. Without analytics, there is no correlation to results. And if you’re on social media without guidance, proof or results, then you’re missing a huge opportunity to impact your business.