The Big Social Media Conference, held on July 9-10, gave a clear indication as to the current dos and don’ts of social media.
The Manchester-based event focussed on the most up-to-date points and tactics to look at with regards to social media marketing for businesses. From the conference, there were three key points that anyone wishing to make use of social media marketing should take note of:
1. It’s vital to remain authentic
As Sharon Flaherty, a speaker at the conference, put it:
“It is really important to be authentic. You need to define ideas about what you want your brand to be and what you can give your customers that can ring true. It shouldn’t just be following your competitors…”
The fact is that the users of social platforms are not easily fooled, and quickly sniff out overselling and hard selling that has been disguised as original content. Most of the time, it is far better to simply blend in on someone’s newsfeed then stick out like a sore thumb, as many people are likely to be put off by the hard sell.
Flaherty emphasised this point further by stating:
“You have to keep it real. There’s no point in faking it.”
2. Responses should be timely
We live in an age where contacting someone is literally at the end of your fingertips, and social sites have merely fuelled the fire with regards to this. Research into how social media is used has shown that almost a third of people expect businesses to respond to their queries within 30 minutes, and over 40% expect a response within an hour.
The argument that content is king rings true, as photos, videos and posts that are interesting will gain the interest of users. However, an argument that engagement is queen is also persuasive. If we don’t respond within certain timeframes, potential customers can be left alienated.
3. Social media marketing is fluid
Marketing via social platforms requires the constant ability to change in order to evaluate what is working and what isn’t, before making changes. Such modifications can occur day to day. It has been argued by Al Mackin, a Manchester tech entrepreneur, that testing and re-testing your tactics is vital, saying that:
“Experiments can fail, but you’ll always learn something from it.”
As such, seeing what works for your audience is always best.
- What are the nuts and bolts of digital marketing? - September 10, 2020
- What is Google RankBrain and how do you use it? - September 9, 2020
- Three dos (and three don’ts) of writing great content - September 4, 2020
