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    Social Media Strategy: Eight Tips for 2015

    In 2015, we will see brands take major steps toward real selling on social networks. As you may have heard, Twitter and Facebook have both started testing in-stream buy buttons. It’s a good bet that Facebook and Twitter users will see more buy buttons in the near future. Beyond selling directly within feeds, there will be a big overall increase in promotions and purchasing. Brands will want to flood their social channels with information on deals and discounts, but they will need to be wary of how they draft their content due to Facebook’s new algorithm changes, impacting promotional posts.

    To help you manage 2015’s social challenges, Falcon Social, a leading social media management platform, offers a few tips for social media success in the new year. This is what companies need to be aware of, participate in, and watch out for during 2015.

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    Tips for Social Media Success

    Click through for eight tips that can help you conquer the social media challenges of 2015, as identified by Falcon Social, a leading social media management platform.

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    The Right Mix of Content

    On social media, you need to find the right mix of content. Selling and promotions on social media channels should always be balanced, whether it’s for the holidays or every day. Exception discounts are meant to be shared, and social media can multiply the reach of your promotions. At the same time, it’s crucial to keep standards high for images and copy, and to vary your mix of content. People appreciate great deals, but a non-stop stream of “x percent off” posts can come off as routine or lacking personality.

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    Customer Care

    Customer care is always important, but doubly so during holidays and special events. These special occasions mean more volume, more discounts, and greater expectations from customers, especially on social media. These times of year require a higher level of planning and preparation in terms of customer service. Some important things to remember: Consider increasing the hours your customer service teams are available, make sure that procedures are in place to get messages that need responses immediately, and be empathetic. Give customer service reps as much power as possible to solve client problems, especially over the holidays, because the holidays can be stressful and sometimes things can be heated on social channels.

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    Pay Attention to Tone

    Pay attention to your tone. If getting the right tone of voice on social media is difficult through most of the year, it becomes even trickier during the holidays. The holidays are meaningful for a lot of people, which means they also bring plenty of potential to offend. Things can be especially fraught in the U.S., where both ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Happy Holidays’ could make someone mad. While it makes sense that brands aim for an unobjectionable tone during these circumstances, cutting all personality out of your communications to avoid doing harm seems cheerless and hollow. Tone is important, yes, but don’t play it too safe either.

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    It’s About Relationships

    Social media is about human relationships. Every brand in the world does holiday and special event campaigns, but the ones that succeed don’t do so accidentally – most of them are warm, original, and authentic. Focus on making real connections. Instead of pushing your product, consider giving your customers a platform to discuss their memories, share your company photo, or just send a genuine message wishing people all the best.

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    Content Marketing

    We’re all ultimately content marketers: With data-based precision, it’s important to become much more strategic with content. To be truly successful in digital marketing and push brands to the forefront, businesses must have a firm foundation in the principles of content marketing, and not only have clear metrics of what each piece of content needs to accomplish but also have a solid understanding of the target audiences it is reaching.

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    Employee Advocacy

    Employee advocacy is a powerful tool that often is ignored: In the past couple of years, the industry has gone from instilling social compliance initiatives, to educating team members on social practices. It’s now time to fully embrace employee advocacy programs, or you’ll miss out on a huge opportunity. Going into 2015 Falcon Social predicts that this will be a huge differentiator between companies. Your employees, like most other people, will be very vocal on social media during the year. The time is right to leverage their connections and have them start being brand advocates now.

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    Embrace the Data

    2015 will be an exciting year in digital marketing as the general mood of social media for business has become more serious, and more data-driven. It’s important to embrace the science behind content, and become much more tactical as the social landscape shifts, and data collection practices are scrutinized.

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    Social Media for Business Growth

    In 2015, Falcon Social predicts that social media will be used as a business tool more than ever. We have already started seeing social media break up silos in a lot of organizations. The big focus is still within marketing departments, but we have seen customer service taking on a bigger part of the social media presence. We do expect to see departments like HR, PR and sales really start focusing more on finding how to work with social media as a tool for business growth and cutting costs. That will also mean a huge change in organizational structures and process. That will require tooling that enables teams working efficiently together by audit trails, users’ roles and approval workflows.

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