It goes without saying, social media is an absolute essential for any brand that wants to be taken seriously in today’s fast-moving world. According to Livia Soibelman, marketing assistant for , It is extremely important for a beauty brand to have a strong social media presence as it is our modern day’s answer to customer service.”
If your brand isn’t on there, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of conversation between consumers, trendsetters, peers and, yes, competitors. Jump in and join the party with bd’s handy guide to managing your own.
Rule 1: Develop a strategy
Taking the time to plan your tone, content and personality before you jump into social media can save time later on. Alex Lintner, online producer for , says the brand has weekly WIPs where each department brings something new to the table and work with that to put together a content plan. Of course we put together a strategy that we aim to work to, but social [media] is so timely, we often veer slightly off course to ensure we’re ahead of the trends,” Lintner says.
When developing your social-media strategy, set yourself and your team some goals that are realistic and achievable. Commit to a consistent presence on social media that you can maintain,” recommends Christina Butcher, beauty blogger and social media strategist. Don’t send out 100 tweets and then disappear for two months.”
Rule 2: Work out what you want from social media
The social media platform your brand chooses to pursue should be in line with the reasons your brand is using social media in the first place.
Pinterest and Instagram are purely visual, Twitter is for current news and commentary in short bursts, while Facebook is a good mix of longer news stories, links and images,” Butcher explains. Facebook speaks directly to your customers while Twitter is more for conversations between brands, media and bloggers. Pinterest can drive huge amounts of traffic to your website, and while it’s hard to track clicks from Instagram, it’s a great way to share insights into your brand and improve brand awareness.”
Rule 3: Tailor your content
Don’t, we repeat, don’t write a witty one-liner with a link, only to post it to five different social mediums. Each platform serves a different purpose and content should be tailored accordingly.
In the case of ModelCo, Lintner says the brand’s Facebook community likes to be kept up-to-date with what’s going on in beauty and fashion trends across the board, not just with ModelCo, and is a great way for fans to interact with the brand. Instagram is far more aspirational – our followers love to be inspired,” Lintner explains. Twitter allows us to interact quickly with fans, customers, media and suppliers and is more of a news source. Pinterest allows our customers to delve into a photographic array of what’s currently inspiring us at ModelCo HQ.”
Don’t have time to create content for each and every platform? Well, that leads us to our next point…
Rule 4: Don’t spread yourself too thin
It’s more important to have a good presence on Facebook than it is to have a crappy presence on a total of 27 other networks,” says social media strategist Zoe Collins. If you don’t have the resources to manage several social media platforms, pick one that is best suited to your brand and manage that one well.
Rule 5: Encourage conversation
In the world of social media, it’s important to be a part of the conversation that’s taking place as it’s happening. Get in on the conversation,” encourages Soibelman. This includes ‘@’ mentioning users and really asking questions and showing interest in what your followers are talking about.” Soibelman also suggests re-tweeting other users’ tweets and re-posting their pictures, or just helping other people’s messages be heard by a greater audience. The favour will be returned, we promise.
Rule 6: Be patient
Social media success definitely doesn’t happen overnight, so be patient. Remember that it takes time to build engagement and as such, [social media] should be looked at as a long-term activity,” adds Collins.
Butcher suggests asking yourself why you want to be on social media. If it’s to increase sales, you won’t find it converts instantly,” she says. It’s as the name suggests – social. Yes, these can lead to increased sales but you have to be in it for the long haul. You can’t build a community overnight.”
Rule 7: Show personality
Personality is just as it sounds – having a bit of fun and letting the people behind the brand show through in the content you share. According to Soibelman, This is something I wish I did more of. It can be anything from just asking how people’s weekend was to letting them know that you love the way their hair looks today.”
Jess Mangan, social media advisor for Lily Blue Communications agrees, pointing out that the best social media pages always have strong personality and reflect what the team behind the brand think is cool and exciting. Remain true to the brand and you’ll create a social media community that your client base wants to be a part of.” Mangan suggests getting the entire brand team involved by setting up a private Facebook group where staff can post ideas, links and photos.
Rule 8: Don’t spam
If you think your brand being mentioned for the 800th time by one of the guys that holds the microphones on the set of Neighbours is interesting, you’d be right. It’s just that the majority of social media users don’t have the same sentiment about your brand that bd does. So, you need to limit what you put out there. Sending out unnecessary links or promotions into cyber space is the fastest way to lose followers. Promotion should take the least precedence in your social media strategy,” says Soibelman. This includes deals, promotions and asking others to do something for you. You want to build trust with people to the point where they are dying to do something for you because they care about your brand and the voice behind it.”
Rule 9: Keep track of what you’re doing
Before you get too overwhelmed, know that there are some fantastic tools out there to help you keep abreast of your social media – and some of the best are free to use. Butcher suggests using Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to manage your accounts and schedule tweets ahead of time. Other tools such as twitalert.com, pinalerts.com and Google alerts can help you track when other people mention your brand online. If all these terms sound like Swahili to you, put them into Google – the online community is waiting to show you how to use them.
Rule 10: Listen to what your customers have to say
It’s all well and good to put your two cents out there, but what’s most valuable about social media is what you get back. Users are very comfortable these days to give brands feedback or ask questions via social media, which means you can gain brand insights you may have missed out on before. Social media is a fantastic platform for us to be able to maintain engagement with not only our stockists but also our direct customers” says Roxy Kilroy, PR and marketing manager for .
Rule 11: Know the actual rules (not just bd’s)
Unfortunately, bd doesn’t have the last word on social media. There are actual laws in place governing this stuff, so make sure you’ve done your homework. Familiarise yourself with the latest Australian rules and regulations so you’re not breaking any,” says Collins. It’s super important you do your research before posting online because these days brands are 100 per cent responsible for what happens in their social spaces. A good place to start is the Advertising Standards Bureau.”