It’s that time of year, when you reflect on the last twelve months and prepare for the next dozen. Yes, it’s the season when people are often gung-ho about committing to diets, stepping up to volunteer and are determined to break bad habits.
Personal resolutions are great, but creating goals for the good of your business may be even more rewarding. Let’s be honest, how long are you really going to avoid the donuts and sprint on the treadmill?
Resolutions, goals, tasks…whatever you want to call them; they need to be well thought out if they’re to be executed successfully.
Here are three simple ways to improve your social media marketing strategies this year:
1) Execute a Facebook Campaign: Take full advantage of the largest social network, by going above and beyond having a corporate page. How? Create Facebook campaigns and get your fan base to spread their love. Take Dunkin’ Donuts (I couldn’t resist, I mentioned the fried frosted dough goodies above) for example; their Ultimate Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Fan Contest they held in fall 2010 was sweet. Fans were encouraged to upload videos explaining why they deserve to win the ultimate fan title and earn prizes. Dunkin’ Donuts made the contest even more interactive by opening up public voting. The brilliance behind this is pretty self explanatory—Dunkin’ Donuts had thousands of testimonials as people anxiously broadcasted why they love the company—instant heap of word-of-mouth marketing.
2) Tweet with a Purpose: Twitter is the perfect way to deliver relevant information. Yet, it can also be abused and seem like you’re posting small talk—how many times do you care to read about the current weather forecast? Twitter can be used for many purposes and according to Toyota a single tweet is worth $500. So for 2011, take the time to really construct how and why you want to use Twitter. My suggestion? Start by using Twitter to support your blogs, website and other web properties. Why? For one thing, Twitter only allows you to publish 140 characters, so rather than trying to use it as a storytelling tool, use Twitter as a transportation device to get people to your full story or message.
3) Blog Away: A corporate blog is absolutely necessary. It’s the perfect way to show your site visitors that you’re up-to-date and have expertise in your industry. And best of all, it will drive more people to your website. According to research, businesses that blog have 55% more visitors to their site than those who don’t. It’s all about keywords, so get ready to optimize for 2011. Blogging is fun, but it isn’t all games for PlayStation; according to Mashable PlayStation’s blog made ‘The Top 15 Corporate Blogs to Learn From’, because they allow their fans to suggest ideas and give advice—let that be a blogging lesson for you this year.
So take a deep breath, relax and don’t stress over the to-do lists for 2011. Take control of your social media marketing mix by implementing these simple and fun tactics—here’s to having a savvy, successful and social year!
