

Video: 3 Pillars of Social Media Strategy

Brands know they should engage consumers on social media, but many question if their social media programs are on the right track. Join me for a segment I like to call #socialstrategy101 to learn three things brands should consider most when crafting their social media plan.


Price Thomas: Hi, Internet. Price Thomas here, SEO Copywriter with RKG. Now I'm pleased to report that you've proven definitively that you are smarter than your friends and colleagues by taking the time to visit the RKG Blog, your one-stop shop for tips and tricks on all things digital marketing.

What we're going to do today is I'm going to bring in a colleague of mine, and we're going to walk you through some of the most important things a brand should consider when forming their social media plan in a little segment that I like to call #socialstrategy101. So you going to come here? No? You? Anybody? No help? Okay, well, looks like you're stuck with just me today.

So there's a lot of information out there, and brands understand that they should be active on social media and the importance it plays in their marketing efforts. They know that they should be able to interact with consumers and engage with their users in various different channels, but they're not always entirely certain the most effective way to create a program and what to consider when putting together a social strategy.

So I bet you're asking yourself, "What are the most important things to consider when we're looking to craft our social plan?" Well the first thing is your audience. Next, we're going to chat a little bit about the strength of each channel, and then we're going to tell you a little bit about how to form an efficient and effective distribution strategy for your content.

So when we think audience, it's vital for brands to understand who they're speaking to, and to tailor and create and produce content that's not only interesting, but also relevant to the audience they're speaking to. Another important consideration is that the target audience for your brand as a whole might not be the same as your social target audience. In fact, there could be incredibly important social communities that stand slightly outside the purview of your overall brand audience that could be extremely influential and help your social program gain traction, and also extend its reach.

Next, we need to think about what are the strengths of each channel. Now, not all social channels are created equal. Some are good for videos, some are good for pictures, others are even great for influencing e-commerce decisions with social signals. It is important to understand what the strengths of each of these channels are, and how users are interacting with the content in each of these channels in order to properly inform your social program.

The last thing we need to consider is having an efficient distribution strategy. Now, this is a combination of where you're posting your content, when you're posting it, and how often you're posting it.

Where you post your content is a combination of understanding your audience and also understanding the strength of your channels. It's producing content that in every channel is also unique and valuable such that it doesn't become repetitive and users don't start ignoring things because they've seen it in a different channel.

When you post your content deals with when your users are most active in these various social channels. It doesn't matter how good your content might be, if you're publishing it at a time when your users aren't active, it will fall on deaf ears.

The last thing we need to consider is how often you're posting content. If every six seconds, when I look at my iPad, iPod, desktop, laptop, or my phone, and my feeds are flooded with updates from your brand, it become overwhelming and users are unable to synthesize, digest, and then engage and respond to content at the rate at which you're producing it, ultimately creating unintentional white noise for your brand.

That's a wrap for this edition of #socialstrategy101. Now it's up to you to tweet it, retweet it, vine it, re-gram it with no filter and make a meme out of it. We appreciate you stopping by, and check back with the RKG Blog every week for brand-spanking new content on all things digital marketing. Have a good one.

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