Social media can do wonders for your business, but only with a disciplined approach
Chances are, your business has been active in social media for at least the last year or more. You’re not alone. One report I saw stated that, as of April 2011, 93% of companies are now using social media to promote their business. The survey by Social Media Examiner stated that these businesses considered it critical to their business success. Personally, I highly doubt that, because in my experience, the vast majority of companies are going about social media in a backwards fashion. They’re jumping in without looking at their overall marketing strategy first. So I’d be amazed if all these companies are seeing real ROI from their efforts.
Social media for your business should be led by your marketing strategy
In fact, I’ll go even further – it should be led by the nose by your marketing strategy. After all the hype, all the over-promise, social media is just another media.
Those companies who are following a marketing strategy in their social media communications have just as much freedom to push the creative envelope; in fact they may have more. We find we’re far more creative and more consistent in our messaging when we’re following a wider plan.
At ion Leap, we like to think about social media as writing very short radio commercials or TV commercials on a daily basis. Each posting is part of a wider campaign and is continuing a conversation started elsewhere. Maybe the customers who found their way to our Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter pages all got their via a TV commercial, or print campaign. Or perhaps they’re previous customers who had a positive experience. Either way, the next job is to engage them in “continuing the conversation with our brand.” Social media is ideal for that.
Talk to us about extremely creative social media
With so many companies having quiet, polite conversations about their employees, the weather, etc. via social media, it won’t be too difficult to break the doors down and get seriously creative. ion Leap comes from a background of award-winning creative in all media. To us, social media is no different. In fact, we love the challenge; the instant measurement of our success.
