These days, Social Media marketing is an oft mentioned term especially within the corporate circles for every company wishes to have a visible presence both online and offline. On the other hand till date, agencies are known to take care of a brand right from its inception to the establishment of strong identity within the market. At the same time, brand agencies have played a vital role in guiding the company by giving a brand identity to its products through traditional marketing channels.
Businesses in the emerging Asian nations are keen to try out social media activities and hence often wonder how to go about it and to what extent should they opt for it for they may already be having a brand agency in place to look after certain media related activities.
It is time these business houses do keep pace with those in Western countries and adopt a balanced and workable approach towards social media. In fact, the need of the hour is coordinated efforts and a balanced approach undertaken by both the corporates and agencies which could work wonders for any corporate entity who wishes to establish an image for itself within the market. The key essentials which go in to formulating a social media campaign include the following
Strategy – In the initial stages, social media for most companies could be having a Facebook and a Twitter account and posting product or company related messages on them. But before doing so, it is essential for them to think it or discuss it over whether there should be a single or multiple accounts and what information should be posted on them. This is essential for the company could be a global or a national one or having multiple products and services to promote. Hence, at this juncture the strategy should be clearly chalked out and finalized regarding the number of accounts, the information to be displayed online, frequency of updates and most importantly the person who will be responsible for these accounts.
Content & its Management – In today’s context, content being the core factor in social media, it becomes very crucial to decide on what to promote, when and how. Here, companies need to bear in mind their corporate identity, mission and even products because what each and every content is associated with their products and company after all. To cater to this task, companies need to appoint a manager who is well versed with the company profile. At the same time the person should be well versed with the social media trends while projecting the company. This being a very crucial aspect as companies could be directly interacting with their customers through an open platform where a like or a dislike does make a great impact on the posting member as well as others who are active on the same platform. A point to remember here is that each and every post can be monitored to ascertain its performance and popularity
Time Factor – This could be yet another key aspect of any media campaign which when planned, they have to delivered right on the dot else the very essence of it gets simply lost somewhere. With regards to the social media campaigns, it becomes essential to get the required material and tasks ready and geared up for action as per the pre decided schedule, be it photos, quizzes, campaigns, applications, videos and much more. Lapses in delivery and go live schedules are not simply imaginable at this stage.
Apart from this, real time engagement does play a vital role here as well. When people or followers paste their feedback or reviews on the accounts, it becomes imperative that they are acknowledged or responded within no time for it makes a great impact on the overall image of the brand.
At the same time, the moderation of accounts, extent of employee interaction through these social media accounts , budgets and finances and ROI has to be given due importance. Similarly, as with real time campaigns, social media branding and awareness does take time initiate as well as build up, hence it becomes essential to give it time and space to develop and grow and reserve enough funds for the same. Always bear in mind that the social media marketing campaign has to be considered as long term campaign which has to be kept running and in case if left midway or abruptly discontinued it does affect the image of the company.
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