ADOPTING A SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN—WHAT THE PROS SAY

What is the best advice you would give a client looking to adopt a social media campaign?

Wayne Rowe • To not get caught up in what everyone else is doing - customize your campaign to your product and target audience.

One media strategy never fits all - not even within the B2B or B2C sectors. 

But for most B2Bs I think a blog and/or videos are the best forms of content to create.

And use targeted LinkedIn groups, Facebook and Twitter to spread the link.

Facebook has had some great success stories, but I believe they are the exception - not the norm. In fact, overall I think its an unprofessional channel and prefer to give it a lesser role in a social campaign.

They have compromised privacy, credit cards etc, too many times. For many businesses it does nothing or even backfires with a wall plastered with criticism. FB abandonment is a massive trend, especially for males over 30. I resigned my personal account a couple years ago. 

But if I was selling prom dresses I would be all over it. Women use FB way more than men with teenage girls dominating the platform now.

Nicole Allen • Once you place your business in a social media channel, it is best to remain responsive. Don't forget that the customer is and should be in the center. Understand it is an organic channel and should take time and effort to nurse, grow and expand.

But also be professional. Invest money in the right people to handle social media, then give them the right tools to create the greatest experiences for the customer, and then make them accountable for their actions and ask for tangible results. ROI reports not only tell you where to best spend your money, but helps you to focus your efforts.

Social Media is many things. It's Marketing, communications, customer service, PR, sales and human resources. The social media profile in your company should be deeply integrated into every department. It should be communicated to all of your customers that you live in these channels so that when they need you, they can find you.

Vince Kamin • Video content works for many of our clients, making them adaptable to shift into, i.e., mobile--or preparing them for the next big thing. Capturing a culture with such a vivid 
format creates its own compelling reason to search them out!

Jason Kramer • Remember to embrace your brand message and brand promise in all social media channels. Sometimes when creating content for social media channels you forget to make a connection in the post you are writing to your brand. You can easily go off topic which can weaken the value of your messaging.

Sean Tracey • Create (and keep creating "fresh") content that is compelling to your intended audience/followers.

Martha Tolosa • Remember that every brand requires a different formula because it has different needs. Don't try to copy other brand's strategies. Go and listen whatever your audience have to say.

Olivia Rose Derby • Take the time to experiment with the different online communities and find one that best fits the personality of your institution. Pinterest for example encourages bold, creative, and artistic cultures. Tumblr is home to a huge fashion community. Blogger and WordPress accommodate technology very well. Facebook often supports large brands with highly interactive content. YouTube of course has a personality all it's own, supporting newly discovered talent and free expression. Expect to take the time and discover which community will allow your marketing strategy to blossom.

Mike Fromowitz • Social networks value honest and genuine communication, which means active participation is required to retain followers and appeal to new customers. 
Approach social media communication as a person, not so much as a business. Keep in mind the customer-centric nature of SM and appeal to the organic feelings and reactions of those customers. Persistence and creativity will get you far.

Lionel Tepper • I would recommend that everyone set realistic expectations on what social media can really deliver at this stage. There's a lot of hype, especially from those looking to sell there services. The hype about social media is really ahead of what it can really deliver.

A recent study by RIS News and Cognizant showed that social and mobile technologies are less influential than first thought. Perhaps the most surprising data point from the RIS News/Cognizant study is that social media and mobile technologies are having less impact on shopping behavior than previously thought. According to the study, technology is moving faster than the actual adoption rate by shoppers. While there's a strong willingness on the part of shoppers to use mobile offers and features, the preference by shoppers to actually use these features is lower than the media hype would lead you to believe. Smartphones allow consumers to gather information and make spot price comparisons at retailer locations, but the actual desire to use scanning technologies came in dead last with less than 24% of respondents favoring this method of information gathering.

In addition, the ability to receive location-based, personalized mobile offers is a low priority for consumers based on the survey's responses. The use of social media platforms and online customer reviews as an information source fared slightly better at 27%.

Mike Fromowitz

OCTANE