Tvitomanija.Me: How to pick social networks for your brand?
If you’re reading our blog, you probably either have a .Me domain name, or you are interested in purchasing .Me domain. Whether you are creating a personal website or a page for your business, you must be aware of the importance of social networks for connecting with our audience and reaching new fans/followers/readers/customers.
One of the most important decision you will make is picking the right social network for your brand. You might be tempted to go big and create profiles on just about anything out there, but that would be a bad decision. As with everything you do in marketing, this will require a little bit of research and planning.
We are attending Tvitomanija.Me, the largest regional conference on social networks and one of the lectures today was dealing with this dilemma. Sandra Kravitz Simonović, CEO of marketing agency Šnajderaj and the face behind Marketing ITD held a lecture in front of a full room today.
Ask the important questions!
Sandra pointed your you have to ask yourself these questions:
- how much money do we have?
- how many people can manage it?
- how much time do we have?
You have to define your goals. Those goals should not be “Reach 40 000 fans by Christmas”, because your fans are the means to reaching your goals, but not the goal themselves. Possible goals could be:
- raising brand awareness
- increasing your sales
- changing your image
You have to keep in mind your company’s goals and incorporate those goals in your communication strategy on social networks. If you work for a car manufacturer, you know people will not be buying a $20,000 car online, but you can show them pictures of the latest model and the way your manufacturing process works. This will raise your brand awareness, establish you as a trustworthy company and hopefully interest someone to go to the dealer and see the vehicle in real life.
How to build your online campaign
“Building your online campaign starts similarly as with any marketing campaign”, Sandra points out. You have to start with collecting information about your company, defining your goals, defining your customer and creation online communication strategy.
You will also need to have a web presence (your website) and create profiles on social networks. You can go ahead and claim your usernames and links, but you do not need to plan to use them all at once.
Next, you will have to build and promote your content. That can be pictures, videos, blog posts or other texts that will interest your target audience. Only then can you advance to building, spreading and strengthening a community around your social network campaign.
So, which social network will you use?
Once again, we are back at the beginning, says Sandra. Now that you know who your target audience is, once again go back to your budget and goals and see how much time you and resources you can use. How many people will be working on your online communication? Are they trained to do it?
Speaking online for a company is like having 5 minutes on prime-time news program. You wouldn’t let anyone do it, so why let anyone present you online?
One of common mistakes is overestimating our own abilities, Sandra warns us. If you can not do it properly, do not do it. It is better to limit yourself to one or two social networks and do it well, than trying to juggle a lot of them and then see some of your balls falling to the ground.
However, you have to be online. Your consumers will bring your company online even if you don’t so you should be right there with them and have a chance to influence what is being said about your brand!
