Social media is a critical component to all Challenger Brand Marketing® programs. The marketing arena has changed for most companies. Your clients no longer want to be sold to – they want to be informed. So successful Challenger Brands know that the best way to sell to their market is to sell in a way that their market does not feel they are being sold to.
This is certainly easier said than done. But it is a reality that all Challenger Brands must understand and embrace. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through a strategic social media campaign.
The following are nine tips that all Challenger Brand Marketing programs must embrace to maximize results from their social media programs:
Set clear and realistic objectives:
Oftentimes, we see companies jump into social media programs without first setting clear and realistic objectives. Define what success needs to look like and ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. Are you trying to build awareness? Drive traffic to a landing page? Or simply provide your customers with a channel to communicate with you? And then define what it would take for you to say this was a success.
Turn your social media campaign into a sales and marketing campaign:
For Challenger Brands, social media isn’t just about building awareness. It’s about turning prospects into customers. Don’t be shy about pushing prospects along the sales funnel. They expect it, and if done properly, they will respond positively to it.
It’s like traditional marketing, but different:
There are a lot of similarities between social media and traditional media. Both are effective communications channels that must use the right messaging to get results. Challenger Brands need to embrace those differences and use social media for what it is: a cost-effective and powerful communications channel that must work harmoniously within your overall marketing mix.
Embrace the major platforms:
Social media should include, at the minimum, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube: You should not focus on just one platform. Challenger Brands need to use social media to have many conversations across as many platforms as you can manage. The more opportunities you provide customers to engage with you, the more successful your campaign will be.
Measure your campaign:
Interestingly, this is an all-too-common problem. This is why it is so critical to set clear and realistic objectives. These objectives allow you to measure your results, progress and effectiveness each and every day, allowing you to learn and make critical adjustments to maximize your results.
Setting up landing pages are critical:
If you don’t have a landing page on your website designed to convert your social media prospects to customers, then you won’t be able to track your ROI. Challenger Brands need to measure every aspect of their social media program. The more you measure, the more you learn and the more effective you will be.
Implement a re-marketing strategy:
Most prospects who visit your landing page won’t become customers. In fact, the vast majority won’t. But that doesn’t mean they’re never going to become customers. It just means they weren’t ready to buy at that moment. Challenger Brands need to keep these prospects in their pipeline by implementing a re-marketing component. You’ll get them someday if you re-market to them.
Be passionate:
Creating a social media program without any passion is almost as bad as sitting on the sidelines. Your prospects can tell if you are passionate about what you are saying. This translates into believability and excitement for your brand from your customers and prospects.
Commitment to doing it right:
Social media is a little like a marriage – you won’t have a successful marriage if you plan on spending just a couple minutes a day having a dialog with your spouse. The same holds true for a successful social media campaign. You need make the commitment to doing it right if you want to see the rewards.
