Before you launch that next social media channel for your tech brand or consulting company, think twice!
Starting channels for the wrong reasons or without the right resources can hurt your brand!
Ask yourself these questions, and then make your move.
10 Questions To Ask Before Your Set Up Your B2B Social Media Channel
- What are your social media channel goals? Make sure that they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-based! For example, Generate 1 million monthly social media impressions.
- What are the roles of each of your social media channels? Think through what each channel like Twitter and Pinterest are best at accomplishing based on how people use them and let that guide how you proceed with launching a channel.
- How are you going to measure social media success on your channels? Do you have a plan to measure your social media activity in a way that is more strategic than followers? I have a great tool for you to use if you email me at gerry@marketingthink.com
- What is it that you want your target audience to do once they find and engage with your social media channels? To decide on the best channels that help you meet your goals based on what you want the customer to do, you need to think through the user experience. For instance, when considering the same person, he expects to act differently on Facebook (i.e., clicking on an activity that keeps him on Facebook) than on Twitter (i.e., expects to click somewhere else)
- Do you have a plan to create content, deploy, manage and measure your social media channels (e.g., content plan, social media manager)? Many brands have a plan to use a college intern or newly minted graduate, while others put these duties on top of the current workload. Whatever it may be, make sure you have a plan to find the content and get it out the door!
- Have you determined the best messaging level (e.g., 10 messages a day vs. 2 messages a day) required to help you reach your goals? Stating that you want to be on social media is only the start! How often should you communicate and message your audience? Why does this planning matter? This matters since sending 2 messages a day will take more resources than 25 messages a day, so you need to plan the entire ‘social media supply chain’ accordingly.
- Do you have sustainable resources to support the creation, deployment, management, and measurement of your social media channels? (e.g., manpower, budget). A social media channel plan is a great start. A budget and resources are even more important to ensure you can execute your plan. It is key that you do not launch a channel without sustainable resources. I have seen many B2B channels die on the vine! Don’t let this be you.
- Are there any other in-house social media properties that can help you drive those same results (e.g., other Twitter channels, in-house community, in-house blogs)? You would be surprised by answering some of the above questions that there may be other channels and ways of driving the same results needed to meet your goals. This is a great time to bring in a second or third set of eyes or a marketing coach to help you understand the best mix of tactics.
- What channels will resonate with your target audience since not every channel is built to serve every customer segment’s needs? Since social media IS social, make sure that your target audience is natively connected to using a specific channel for a specific reason. For example, would Facebook be the best way to build a defense industry audience? NO! So, it would help if you thought through each audience’s nuances and related social media channels.
- Have you checked out the competition, influencers, media publications, internal company mentors, and other like-properties to help you understand your place in the social media ecosystem and how to maximize your presence? Social media is the marketing and competitor equalizer! While you are planning your social media channel launch, make sure you check out your primary and secondary competitors and other influencers for ideas and direction on the best way for you to proceed!
Do you have any additional questions that you would ask? Please share them below!
If you answer these 10 questions you will be much better informed to launch a social media channel to help you execute your business goals and strategy.
Please reach out to me with any questions at gerry@marketingthink.com
