Social media can be the most dynamic, engaging and effective of all digital marketing platforms, but it may not always feel that way for the person or team tasked with scheduling hundreds of tweets or churning out fresh content every day. To help you keep on-track with your social media marketing campaigns, keep your skills razor-sharp and your enthusiasm up, here are 5 useful exercises to try:
- Analyse your competitor’s accounts. This is a hugely useful exercise, as it allows you to step back from your own efforts and research the market. You aren’t looking to steal or copy anything, but simply to analyse what your rivals do well and not so well. An easy way to get started is to use Twitter lists. This vital research can help you analyse your own campaigns, make improvements and also feel good about what you’re doing well.
- Consider rocking the boat (only gently) every once in a while. There’s a fine line between starting a debate that gets people talking and trolling with something completely over-the-top and controversial. If you feel your marketing efforts are getting a little stale, consider playing the contrarian and sparking a debate – consult your colleagues first though, to ensure you’ve judged it correctly.
- Plan for a worst-case social media disaster. It may not happen, but you need to be prepared for a social media disaster If a reputational crisis affects your company, your digital marketing team needs to swing into action and do some serious damage control. Have a ‘mock disaster’ and play the scenario through, then you’ll be nice and prepared just in case the worst should ever take place.
- Throw in something completely different. All brands want consistency in their marketing messages, but variety is the spice of life when it comes to social media. Consider every once in a while posting something completely different to what you normally do, such as sharing a relevant video, making a joke or starting a poll. This is virtually guaranteed to get your brand more attention on all channels, as audiences who may have stopped noticing you will flock to see what’s new.
- Take another look at your tone. Your job as a social media marketer is to impart information, but it’s also to engage and perhaps even amuse your audience. Take a look at your last weeks’ worth of tweets or updates and ask yourself – am I speaking like a human? If not, you may need to overhaul your tone. If you’re too formal, it could be very off-putting. The key could be to simply relax and not worry about making a ‘mistake’ – social media is supposed to be spontaneous and off-the-cuff, and this is something that users come to expect.
Have you ever found yourself in a social media rut? What do you do to sharpen your rusty skills, shake things up a bit and reinvigorate your social media campaigns? Please feel free to share your thoughts.
