Participation – Involvement is Key
After finding the right places to converse, participation is essential. Social media empowers customers to evangelize our brand. With Facebook you want likes, Google plus you want to be in circles, Foursquare you want check-ins, and Twitter you want followers. “Get to know your customers social media habits. Ask them what social media platforms they use. Find out how often they update their blogs. Become “friends” with them on those social media platforms and build your network”
Here are some demographics from Social Media Marketing for Dummies, 2nd Edition:
- 61 percent women.
- 72 percent of users are between 25 and 54.
- Users focus mostly on social interaction.
- 57 percent of Twitter users are women.
- 54 percent are between 25 and 44.
- Users focus primarily on world events and business-related topics.
- 55 percent of users are men.
- 61 percent of the users are between 35 and 54.
- Users focus on jobs, marketing themselves, and selling services.
YouTube
- 52 percent of users are women
- 22 percent are age 25 to 34
- 22 percent are age 35 to 44
Facebook now has over 800 million users; more than 50% of users log in to Facebook every day and 145 million of the users are in North America.
Social Marketology lists seven main types of social media projects. These projects are large in nature and a campaign can include multiple types.
- Brand beachhead. This is the social media project wherein the brand equity is maintained, making sure that we’ve created profiles in the social media platforms that are relevant, that we’re monitoring, and that we’re being responsive to.
- Influencer outreach project. Here, we identify and focus on the more influential people within a topic area, with the objective of getting them to recognize our brand and to engage with it in a meaningful capacity.
- Community-building social media project. Whether we join an existing community or create a new one, this is the project wherein we aim to build a more robust community, where if ours is not a major voice, at least it’s part of the conversation.
- The big splash project. This is the social media project that tends to get written about in the press, such as the Old Spice campaign or the Night Agency’s new Doritos Uncut campaign. The hallmark here is creativity.
- Employee brand ambassador project. This is building up a group of individuals inside the organization who will become a part of the brand’s social outreach. Support services, training, and guidance can help create an army of social media users who will extend the reach of marketing and communications beyond the limits of the marketing and PR teams.
- Customer brand ambassador program project. The customer-based brand ambassador program empowers a set of people outside the company to advocate for the brand. Ideally, it’s not a relationship that’s based on you giving these customers money, but instead it’s one where you give them access to leadership and information and help amplify the passion they feel for your brand.
- The crisis project. Whether before a crisis occurs or after, this project aims to mitigate damage through social media.
Participation includes a variety of projects over multiple platforms. Projects can include; branding, community building, and crisis management. The biggest part of participation is making friends and networking.
If you have questions or need assistance with your social media please contact us, we would love to help.
To be continued – this is part 2 of 3. View part 1 here