INSIGHT
THE ULTIMATE CHEAT
SHEET FOR SOCIAL
Both targeted and affordable, social media is a channel you need in your marketing mix. Christina
Richardson, co-founder and CMO at social-sharing tool Openr, asked their top users for their prime
tips on getting going and driving results on social, compiling these into her ultimate cheat sheet.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTINUES to be
the poster child for big brands and small
alike, and understandably so. Social can
be utilised irrespective of small budgets by
organically growing audiences to increase
awareness; whilst bigger brands see it
as a route to deeper engagement. Plus,
consumers are increasingly turning to
social to run searches, which puts further
pressure to be present in this space.
However, it can be a massive time
commitment which makes many scrutinise
the return on investment. The desire is
for social to drive tangible action, but fill
newsfeeds with endless promotional posts
and audiences instantly turn off, or worse
- unfollow. So where is the middle ground
that engages fans but still drives results?
To commit to this extensive channel it’s
inevitable you want to get off the starting
blocks and driving results fast. Fortunately,
we know a few people that know something
about that - so I asked our top Openr users
for their top tips to get going and get results
on social, and compiled it into the Ultimate
Cheat Sheet for getting results on social.
1. Be selective (and be proud)
Don’t jump on the bandwagon of every
social network - you’ll blow every hour
in your week and soon find the majority
don’t work for you. Your single most
important cheat is to pick the right place(s)
to focus your valuable time and energy.
Then set out to do these really well by
learning from others.
Select your most-suited social network
based on your target customers - quite
simply you want to invest your time where
you can reach the most of them. Consider
their needs and wants when they’re on
that network and select where they are
both most prevalent, and most receptive
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to interaction. Start by researching what
others in your sector use, and the customer
demographics of each network to find
your match.
2. Get the basics bang on
Your social profile is a measure of your
professionalism and impacts your reputation
as much as your website. Furthermore, it’s
worthless investing in paid-social to boost
reach later, if your profile doesn’t look
credible. So lay the foundations early and set
up your profiles well.
Add a professional profile image; a page
header image that reflects your offering;
and include an introduction that would
attract your target audience to follow or
like you. Be authentic and interesting and
include keywords that are most relevant to
your profession to enable others to find you
via search.
3. Don’t be tempted by the
shortcuts
No buying followers please. It will only
come back and bite you when they all
disappear overnight because the social
network did a purge of fake accounts.
Just accept that a little bit of time needs
to be taken to build your chosen networks
organically, then you can utilise this free
audience you’ve just earned in the future.
Once you’ve set up your chosen
networks, start a steady flow of following
or liking each day to trigger others to
follow you back. A good place to start is
to find influencers in your industry, and
your key competitors, and find and follow
their followers.
4. Interact & reward interaction
Social is... inherently social. It’s not about
you - it’s only about your followers - but
this works in your favour.
Liking and retweeting others; replying
to questions; and including others in your
posts when you share their content, are
three quick cheats that take 10 seconds or
less (especially if you connect your mobile).
This simple level of interaction encourages
more followers, and increases your reach
by placing you in their feeds too. Don’t
endorse everything though, do it when you
mean it to maintain authenticity.
5. Plan it out
Like any other marketing channel the best
results come to those who plan, and in
fact mapping out a simple plan is key to
keeping your social media management
time to the right level for you.
Create a simple spreadsheet showing
the frequency and timing of your posts per
week per channel. A quick bit of research
will tell you the optimum amount for
your chosen channel as well as the ideal
timings for your target. Then overlay any
key events, campaigns or promotions you
Figure 1: When to share
content by channel