I recently attended a Social Media Luncheon hosted by The Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce at Keiser University on April 30th, 2013. The focus of the luncheon was ‘Mapping out a Social Media Plan for your Business.’ I had the pleasure of expanding my knowledge on how to adequately and efficiently develop a Social Media Plan from the three speakers, Dana Haesemeyer: Social Media Manager at Rasmuessen College, Christa Pusateri: President of Hook Marketing & Design, and Samantha Scott, APA: Owner of Pushing the Envelope, INC.
At first thought, some individuals have a misconception of what goes into social media marketing for a business. Individuals sometimes are likely to underestimate the thought and planning that goes into the execution of a successful and efficient social media marketing plan. On the contrary, for the individual who is held responsible for the social media management, it can all seem very overwhelming when you are beginning from scratch. For me, I am the sole manager of 3 Hilton Brand Hotels Facebook’s, 2 Hilton Brand Hotels Websites, and 1 Hilton Brand Twitter. It can be difficult to manage all of these different platforms, but definitely do-able, and my time at this luncheon proved to be very informative, and I truly believe what I learned will be extremely useful going forward.
The method that these ladies suggested for going about crafting your own social media plan was the RPIM Model. What does the RPIM stand for, you ask? A very commonly used acronym in the world of business:
- Research
- Planning
- Implementation
- Measurement
Read along, and I will guide you on what goes into each step so YOU can craft your perfect and personalized Social Media Plan. Think of it as a Social Media Plan for dummies guide blog. J
Research
In order to successfully market to your audience/customer, you must first know, and clarify, WHO that person is. What market are you trying to reach? For example, if you are an orthodontist office – a majority of your patients are going to be pre-teens, so your key market would most likely be their mothers. Given that I am marketing for three different hotels, my target market is going to be different based upon what hotel I am marketing for.
Another key declaration that needs to be clear in your marketing plan is knowing what you want to accomplish by reaching your target audience. What is the end goal? For my Hilton Brand Hotels, the ultimate goal is to have our target audience book rooms and events with us, and continue to do so. For a boutique, it would be for clients to come in and buy their clothes, etc. Your goals should always be SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely – after all, no one wants DUMB goals – agreed?
Once you know who you are trying to reach, and what you want to accomplish by reaching them, you must also know who else is trying to reach them – AKA, your COMPETITION. This is important to know for a variety of reasons, how are they marketing? What type of specials do they offer? You need to know what they have to give to the target market that you do not, and vice versa. You need to audit your competition so you are aware of what else is out there.
The next step in the research process is defining your identity. What do you want your business to be known for, who are you? What is your brand voice that you want out there in the community? Given that I am marketing for Hilton, it is a very well-known name that already has a reputation attached to it. Therefore, it is my duty to maintain and uphold this reputation consistently, while also creating an identity for our location specifically. If you are a family owned business, that may be something that is important to let your customer know, it may be a large part of who you are.
Now that you have those key ingredients in the mix – you must decide HOW you are going to reach your customer. There are many different social media platforms out there for you to use, but it is important to know which platforms work for you, and which do not. For example, if you are a Doctor, you will probably not want to set up a FourSquare account, given that patients most likely will not want to publicize when they are at the Doctor. Businesses also must remember it is not what you want, it is about what THEY want and need. A good way to find out how customer would like to communicate is simpler than you think – ASK! Send out surveys, ask what they want out of social media, what type of information are they looking for from you, etc. The tricky part about surveys is getting the customer to complete the survey. Create some sort of incentive for completing the survey, for me I could offer a complimentary 2 night stay to a random 5 people that complete the survey, you can customize whatever works for you, and for what you have in the budget. Also – have a list of the survey questions with the receptionists of your business, while they have clients/ customers on hold, have them ask these questions, but do not get invasive.
The last step of the research process is knowing what your business’ current online reputation is. It is important for your marketing plan to know what information is out there about your business and what people are currently saying about your business. The even more essential part of this is confronting and addressing all of these reviews/comments/ what have you. It is important to be aware of your online reputation, good or bad. Also – you need to deal with the bad reviews and do whatever is in your power to make it better. It is also important to remember to address the good reviews – those people did not have to take the time out of their day to write positive things about your business, but they did – so thank them!
Planning
The next turn you will need to make while mapping out a Social Media Plan for your Business is to make a plan! I always like to abide by the oldie but goodie saying, ‘failure to plan is planning to fail.’ Knowing you, well actually not just you – I would assume everyone, does not want their business to fail – so planning is key. Follow these simple steps and I guarantee you will feel confident in taking the next step in your social media journey.
Your first step will be to define and measure your current KPI, or Key Performance Indicator. What is it that you are looking to measure – engagement from your audience, bookings through Facebook? Business’ also have the ability to measure how many unique visitors they are attracting versus other visitors, the site’s bounce-back rate, etc. Knowing these key factors will help you determine if you are reaching your key demographic, are you marketing to the right people? Is the audience outreach that you currently have converting into leads? These are all VERY important questions to ask yourself!
The next wind in the road will curve you on to your budget – everyone’s favorite! Not really-but completely necessary. Your budget is critical to know how far you are able to extend yourself –do you have the extra money to implement Pay Per Click Marketing, an extra employee, incentives/promotions? The answers to these questions will be determining factors in your next step – creating your content schedule!
A content schedule may seem like a shock to some people, and I do not blame you, because I was a bit confused as well. My immediate thoughts: why would you want to tie yourself down to a rigid schedule when everything social media is always so fluid, and completely about real-time coverage? To answer this concern: the content schedule should NEVER, I repeat – NEVER, be solid, but always a fluid guide. Social media should never be a stressor to yourself of your business, it should be a tool – planning ahead will eliminate this worry. Remember: your SM should NEVER be on autopilot – it is about relationship building and maintaining with your customers, never forget that they are people too!
A suggestion is to create an excel spreadsheet for about a 3 month block. The spreadsheet should detail your different platforms, the content you will be sharing, and when you will be sharing it. Once you have created your 3 month plan, each month you will just have to develop one more month – easy peasy! When choosing post times, choose how often you will be sharing each day (usually no more than two works best, nothing is worse than a nuisance,) and also when in the day is the best time to post – hence you will want to reach the peak of the SM traffic hour.
Next is to focus on YOU – who doesn’t love that? We already determined that as a business, your need to define your identity & what you would like to be known as – and these things go hand in hand. Your brand book is important, and the best rule to live by is that consistency is key! Your brand book should detail rules about how your brand can be used, what fonts and colors are acceptable, sayings, sharing restrictions, photo credits, rules and restrictions, etc. A brand book needs to ask as your social media guidebook and policy universal for your business. Is your business involved in the community? Show it. Do you have a logo? Use it. If you are a new business, it is important to always stick with the same logo, background color, fonts, etc. People are still getting to know you, so you always want to be recognized – make this easier for them.
Implementation
Now that you have prepared yourself for ultimate social media domination – it is time to dominate (AKA: implement all of your hard work!) The first step in the process will be to refer to your hand dandy content schedule and execute it. It is important to remember that not all content is good content; it should be relevant, rich, and valuable! Also remember, although humans are genetically programmed to care about themselves and enjoy talking about themselves more than anything else- your social media is not ALL about you – it is about your customer! Always abide by the four for one method, 1 promo/ad/bragging about your business for every four posts you make with them in mind (area information, new techniques, etc. these will vary based on your business.)
During your implementation, it is important to take advantage of the resources and tools provided to you that are at your fingertips. Utilize the apps and tools that are built to make social media management easier to, well, manage. Some of these great tools include: HootSuite, Sprout, etc. But always be sure to craft your message for different channels because there is different etiquette used on different social media platforms. Also, utilize the tools that the platforms give you: Facebook Offers, Google Offers, Google Alerts, Coupons, Promos, etc.
One last implementation that some businesses make the mistake of ignoring, employee buy-in! Your employees should be you’re built in audience. Have your employees put links to the company’s social media platforms on their signatures, share on Facebook, follow on Twitter, etc. – you get the message!
Measurement
I do realize that measurement may not be everyone’s favorite step – but again, it is 100% necessary! How will you know if your social media strategy is successful if you are not measuring along the way? Exactly, you will not. It comes down to perception vs. reality: just because you believe you are efficiently delivering your message and giving your market what they desire, does not actually mean you are. Almost all social media platforms that we engage in today have their own built in measurement & analytic tools, my advice? Utilize these tools!
Earlier, we already determined that you need to define what your KPI (Key Performance Indicator) was, so now it is time to measure how well you are achieving this performance (i.e.: if your KPI was guests booking rooms at the hotel, has this increased from your SM outreach?) Now, some of you may be saying, how do we know if those rising number of booking are a direct result of our SM marketing? There are a few different ways to measure this. Some businesses will opt to phone-track, where you can set up a custom phone number just for your social media platforms. In other words: all bookings and calls that come in from that phone number= knowing the results of your SM marketing by distinguishing where the traffic is coming from. Shortened URLs are also an option, which allow you to track how many people are clicking on a certain, unique link.
Putting It All Together
Now I realize this can all seem very overwhelming to someone who is just embarking on the road to social media domination, but not to fret! I have confidence in you. Follow the RPIM method and I promise you will be golden! Always keep in mind that building your audience and getting your business on the right path takes time, like all good things do. I am not asking you to have 20,000 Twitter followers and 65,000 Facebook likes by tomorrow, although I do demand it by the end of the week….KIDDING! 😉 I wish you my best on your social media journey, and please know you can contact me at any time via this blog post, or email.
Good Luck!
Alysia
Alysia Pope 