A Simple IDEA for Your Social Media in 2016
(Image copyright: anilakkus)
“New Year, new you?”
Social has evolved; and as a brand, you too need to evolve. We’ve seen the evolution from ‘social networks’ to a now ever-present ‘social web’:
From: one-way communications > To: real-time communication across platforms
From: single social platform identity > To: entire web social identification
From: one asset across all channels > To: assets developed with social at their core
As a social media manager, it’s often easy to over-think the development or creation of a social strategy to please the businesses leadership team.
It’s important you have buy-in from the top, and that they support your efforts. But it can sometimes be hard to have them fully sold if they’re unsure about the social web, your processes, or even just the language you use.
Which is why you can always turn to a very simple IDEA, based on four pillars strategy – infiltrate, differentiate, engage, and advance:
INFILTRATE – Have a presence in the environments that your audience frequent and communicate with them in ways relevant to the context.
DIFFERENTIATE – Deliver a clear brand message to set yourself apart from the competition and become memorable.
ENGAGE – Give your audience a reason to interact with you by offering a strong value exchange.
ADVANCE – Continuously build on successes, and innovate further on what works to strengthen your social relationships.
By explaining this four pillars effectively to your C-suite, you’ll be safe in the knowledge that they understand the approach you’re taking.
There’s plenty more you need to consider before being able to adopt a winning social strategy, but the likelihood is your top dogs won’t need to know the nitty-gritty.
Some other articles you may find useful to read from Alex Pollock:
3 Tips for the Lonely Social Media Manager
3 Tools to Create Images for Your Social Media Posts
3 Tips for Managing Social Media Crisis Comms
Alex Pollock is Global Social Media & Community Manager at Castrol and will be speaking on Day 1 of #DMWF Amsterdam about Dynamic Social Engagement for 2016.
