Here we explore what social media approaches businesses/organisations/companies need to take in order to keep connected with their target audiences in a post-Lockdown world.
Part 1: Social media is now business media
Social media has been omnipresent in most of our lives for well over a decade but not every company or senior leader was on the bandwagon by 2020.
Then lockdown came and fast-forwarded digital progression by an estimated ten years.
Suddenly independent boutiques were trading via Facebook, while training consultancies found themselves wrangling Zoom calls. Personal trainers tapped into unmet demand on Instagram and charities found their hitherto dead Twitter feeds alight with new interest.
Anyone who wanted to stay relevant and connected to work, family or friends got online quickly. TikTok took off like a rocket and LinkedIn developed past its awkward teenager phase into a much better-rounded platform.
81% more important
This all means that now your target audience is more likely to look for you online, especially via social media.
Recent studies show that 81% of consumers now use social media to discover new brands and products; experience shows that it won’t be long before this applies to B2B, public and charity bodies as well. 60% of customers prefer to message rather than call a provider with any queries. Furthermore, 59% of companies are, or will, offer social media customer service options.
The bottom line is that if you are not interacting with your target audiences on social media, they will choose to interact with somebody else.
What should you do about it?
Now is the time to audit and redesign your social media strategy with a leading role as a point of contact. Consider:
● Who are our various stakeholders, and where are they likely to congregate online?
● How do they like to interact?
● What will they need or want to contact us for?
● How can we facilitate that for them via social media?
This should be a thoughtful, deliberate exercise involving customer research, most if not all members of staff, and industry benchmarking.
Social media for dummies
If your senior management team is not on board, it’s time to dust off their attitudes and spend time as a group working to make social media part of the corporate fabric.
You’ll need to provide clear and fair social media policies with plans that deliver company objectives, as well as training and implementation support for all employees.
Your basic social media checklist in 2022 should include:
● Do we understand our target audiences and their social media habits?
● Which platforms do we need to meet our target audiences on?
● Is our social media strategy, aligned with company values and at the heart of our communications activity?
● Do I, and everyone in the business, understand how social media will be used and measured to help us reach our goals?
● Do I, and everyone in the company understand how to conduct myself as an ambassador of our brand online?
With the addition of our newest associate Candace Watermeyer, a corporate social media expert, we’re undertaking this exercise ourselves and can now offer tailored social media auditing and strategy workshops alongside our already in-demand social media training.
Get in touch to discuss your requirements.