July 3, 2014
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StickerGiant currently has six social media principles we like to follow for our social marketing efforts.[/caption]
StickerGiant starts with six principles for social media outreach. We go in depth and define each one below, but here there are for your reference: Avoid Censorship , Product/Service Education, Tagging, Sharing Original Content, Engagement, and Promote Your Presence. We try to abide by these whenever possible, and we open ourselves to be adaptable, since social media is always evolving.
Avoid Censorship
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StickerGiant Facebook comments no censorship[/caption]
Disabling or censoring public posting is a choice that some brands make to prevent spammy posting, or avoid having to respond to customer complaints publicly on Facebook or Twitter etc. Here at StickerGiant, we’ve chosen to constantly monitor social media because we’ve found that some of our best customer engagement comes from public posts from customers. Click here to see an example of a Facebook post from an event where our CEO spoke that featured some feedback from other customers and business owners.
Sure, there are times when a customer may come off as upset or irritated, but we often find that with a little authentic interaction, we can redirect their concerns to a better venue (i.e. “Email our StickerFairy Hailey”).
A brands willingness to talk back and forth with customers with professionalism and tact is a great way to build trust with fans. You’d be surprised how often prospects check your page to see how you handle complaints.
If you decide that disabling public posting to your Facebook page is for you, be aware that this move looks like censorship and does not go over well with social media influencers. It also keeps a brand from having the unique ability to listen to fans and make adjustments according to their constructive criticism.
Product & Service Education
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StickerGiant Adobe Illustrator Tutorial[/caption]
Social media is a great way to push original content to subscribers that informs your audience and educates them about your product and service offerings in bite-size pieces. Stickers may sound simple to many, but when you start talking size, product type, colors, design files, etc., it quickly gets complicated for our customers. That’s why we love to write and curate content that specifically aims to help our customers along the way. Tutorial blog posts and How To videos make for ideal customer service.
If your page is heavy with internally driven media like company lunches and after hours events, it would be great to see more content that identifies more accurately with your customer profile. Internal posts are good now and again because they help your customers humanize your brand, but too much of it comes off as exclusive and self-focused.
Tagging
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StickerGiant Facebook Customer Tag[/caption]
Tagging on social media is a great way to gain engagement from the brands you work with. It calls their attention to the fact that you are giving them credit or love on social media, and expands the possibility that your content will be shared with more consumers.
When a brand sees that they have been tagged or referenced by you, they often feel excited and compelled to share your content--exponentially expanding your network reach.
Showcasing case studies and blogs that explain how your services are working for existing clients is a great way showcase customer love. Your clients will love you for the exposure, but your fans will love you because it helps them know, like, and trust you.
Sharing Original Content
Producing original content is incredibly important when it comes to maintaining authority, voice consistency, and brand recognition. Sharing news stories and content from other sources is great, but be sure to tag important references so that they recognize that you are giving them credit. The screengrab above is from an aerial video we shot with a quadcopter hovering over our warehouses and offices. Just because we wanted to, and just because it’s fun, viral content.
It’s best to maintain an 80/20 rule when curating posts so that 80% of the time you are posting content that comes directly from your content creators at the company (blog posts, images, mashups/memes, video, etc), and 20% of posts reference content about your industry from related field experts/brands.
Engagement
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StickerGiant Facebook Engagement Numbers[/caption]
There are many ways to promote “engagement” on social media, but one of the best ways is to respond to fans when they comment on posts, post to your wall, retweet your content, tag you, etc. Do you have to respond to every single interaction? No. Be sure to pick and choose your own standards.
But don’t forget that fans especially love it when your response is slightly more personal and authentic in it’s voice. Humor also plays a magical role when it comes to nurturing/creating raving fans.
Promote Your Presence
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StickerGiant Facebook Sound Cloud Promo[/caption]
Don’t forget to remind your fans/subscribers that you are on Facebook and other social media outlets whenever possible. We’ve even run an email campaign directly targeted at softly soliciting “Likes”. The best likes are from existing customers who already understand your brand and service offerings, so be sure to remind them to find you where they feel most comfortable.
Buying Likes is a tactic that some companies like to take, but we prefer to build a network one authentic Like at a time. If we feel like we have a great interaction with a client via email, we’ll even ask if we can personally connect on Facebook or whether they’ve checked us out on Facebook for other tips and tricks.
Generating Likes is the same thing as gaining subscribers, and since Facebook hosts the largest active global audience on the web, it’s an important place to direct fans to connect.