Grow From Here

Continuing from the last post, “Your Secret Weapon for Social Media,” keep in mind that social media is one marketing tool among many.  Remember the keys to success:

1. know what success looks like for your company
2. use that knowledge to select your strategy
3. implement and then
4. measure using your key metrics
5. adapt direction as necessary based on your results
6. repeat

With a good plan, social media can be a great boost to your business.  Your first step lies in defining exactly what it is you seek to accomplish.   There are five common business needs that social media can facilitate.

Choose the most appropriate one for your company:

• You want to grow sales directly
• You are trying to drive online traffic
• You want to learn about what your customers are thinking and get product feedback
• You are building your brand
• You are looking for people who will make good strategic partners

Focussing on your goal will dictate what particular strategy to follow and what to avoid. We’ll describe strategies that one might adopt for each of these goals using fictitious companies.

1-          Grow sales directly. ‘Sock-It-To-Ya’ is a new company that manufactures ladies socks and tights (their customers are young, fashion-conscious women).  They have a website, have set up e-commerce and are eager to begin direct sales and are sure that having a presence online will serve them well.

2-         Drive online traffic to the company blog. ‘The Hard Software Company’ is expanding rapidly.  The highly creative owner knows that she has a high level of expertise, and wants to establish herself as an industry expert so that she can be invited to speak at conferences and further grow her business.  She has recently set up a content-rich blog and wants to drive traffic to it so that she can expand her influence and firmly entrench her industry position.

3-         Learn what my customers are thinking and get product feedback.

‘Juicy’s’ is a regional chain of juice bars.  They are about to introduce a new high-protein smoothy, targeted to fitness fanatics.  The samples have been well-reviewed, but the owners are deliberating what to call the new offering.  They decide to launch a contest that allows customers to vote on name choices.  Juicy’s already has a website and a mailing list; now they want to harness the power of social media to get as many people involved as possible, so they have a wide base of feedback.

4-         Build our brand.   Texas is no longer big enough for ‘Texas’ Biggest Buns,’ bakers and wholesalers of hamburger, hotdog and sandwich buns, and it is high time to move into the surrounding states.  Siggy, the CEO, turns the task over to Johnson, telling him to, “Spread the word over the internet waves!”  An anxious Johnston needs to formulate an online strategy to build the brand online so that other states will want to buy franchises.

5-         Find strategic partners. ‘Cats vs. Dogs’ find themselves in an enviable position:  their business has soared to new heights.  They have done so well, that they are ready to expand into bigger -perhaps international – markets.  They want to find experts in financing & business expansion in other countries that they can joint venture with.

Each business knows specifically what they want to accomplish.  But how will they do it?  Tune in to the next posts to follow their progress.

Best Practices, Business Growth, Technology, Tips