Okay so, you finally did it! You finally decided to get your business on Facebook and have outsourced the task to a social media marketing agency. It makes sense too as you’re a small-medium sized business already spreading your internal resources way too thin. Your social media marketing efforts are now out of sight, out of mind, right? Time to focus your attention back on your regular tasks, right?
Wrong. I have to say it. You are wrong Mr. CEO / Ms. CEO.
The words engaging, sharable, interactive should mean something to you by now. I’m positive you’ve heard them a time or two if you’ve made it to our online marketing blog before.
You need to be all three
and
you need to be strategic
and
you NEED to make sure all efforts are in sync with your company culture.
Since you’ve outsourced… your social media company needs to be all of the above too (and they can’t do it without you)! Here are a few ways on how you can keep them in the loop and ensure your social media dollars are going to do their job.
Today’s Wake-Up Call: Bring Your Audience Behind the Scenes…
Let your audience see what you’re company is really like; keyword ‘transparency’. The more we get to know someone, the more we build trust.
It is the same with a company; this is why networking can be so successful. Networking allows you to meet a person from a company — which ultimately gives you a good feel for the company. Once you gain a new contact’s trust, you are much more willing to talk business with them. It works the same way on a social network (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin to name a few).
Task 1: Be more attractive.
Make a point each week to take 3 photos (smart-phone photos count) of things going on around the office. Each of these images will create a strong visual on your Facebook page of what your company culture is like. People are naturally attracted to pictures and videos over text. So go ahead, feed the beast and don’t expect your outsourced marketing department to come up with these images on their own… they weren’t with you in the office today to take a picture of the 16 abnormally large boxes that FedEx dropped off #funny #shareable #twitpic #PostOnFacebook.
Other Examples:
Did someone important visit the office that week (even the boss’s cute kid counts). Did someone post a funny note in the break-room? Snap a picture (great example of company culture)! Did you capture the sunrise this morning on the way to work (shows your audience, you are personable humans too; not some stuffy, snooty organization)? Send all items to your Outsourced Social Media Team.
Email to your social media agency: Subject – Photo(s) for (company) week of (date/month).
Task 2: The TGIF Chore. Yes, I know that is an unpleasant contradiction.
At this point in your business, I must assume you have some sort of calendar keeping track of your upcoming events, meetings, vacations, to-do’s, etc. On Friday, have the ‘face’ of the company send a list of 3-5 upcoming plans that your social media marketing agency can use to strike up a conversation.
Example Posts:
- We’re walking around the Printer Expo today, anyone else here?
- Meeting with a new client today – got on my Sunday best 😉 What do you wear for your big meetings–anyone have a lucky tie? What color?
- Today we’re working with our new partner’s of the women’s empowerment movement. WE LOVE COLLABORATION. Who do you collaborate with on a daily basis?
Email to your social media agency: Subject – Schedule Items to Announce for (company/person) week of (date/month).
Task 3: …because everyone loves forwarded emails.
Do you keep up with your company’s industry news? Do you read WSJ online every morning before you finally decide to get some work-work done? Do you read anything your company’s target audience might see as valuable information? Email the links to your social media marketing agency. Your prospects and current client will appreciate you spoon feeding them useful/valuable information. Become their go-to source for valuable information and they will be more apt to refer you to their friends/partners/etc when they are in need of a quality source.
Email to your social media agency: Subject – Please Share Link(s) (company) week of (date/month).
Stay tuned for Part 2, Wake-Up Call 2: Events, Trade Shows, Conferences – Oh My! The why and how to snag an invite for your social media marketing agency. And, yes, you can subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss it.
Photo Credit MathManDan
