By: Lauren Bupp, Assistant Account Executive
You can’t eat a meal without Instagramming it. You’re the Snapchat mayor of every room in your apartment. Once, a day you will remember forever, @KimKardashian retweeted you. Yep, you’re pretty much addicted to social media.
Everyone wants something to ‘go viral,’ infecting the internet with their brand and message. However, this isn’t all we want… so here is why I love social media, and why you should too!
It’s the Start of a Journey
Social media is often the place where someone will first hear about a business, so every tweet or post needs to make the best impression on the audience. Often, it is the start of the journey between a business and its loyal customers. The audience will see a tweet, they’ll go to a blog, then share the blog or, better yet, they will fill in a form and become a lead. Getting this journey perfect will lead to satisfaction for everyone involved.
It’s Exciting
I’m pretty sure that my parents think my entire job consists of just liking photos on Facebook; however, it is actually much more than that. My day consists of scanning the internet for the most interesting, engaging and relevant pieces of content out there. This might be looking for a newly released piece of research on the market, finding breaking news or discovering a meme that the world hasn’t seen yet. Comment on something too late and the post won’t get register with the reader.
Social Media Can Be Very Clever
One of my favorite social media marketing campaigns is from Wendy’s. When McDonald’s tweeted a placeholder copy on Black Friday, Wendy’s was ready with their axes sharpened. This sparring match between two fast food mega-giants only serves to humanize the brands. The winner is Wendy’s showing its authentic side and aligning itself with its audience.
Another clever campaign to watch was Reese’s most recent Halloween Candy Converter Machine. The machine allowed people to trade in the candy they didn’t want for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. According to a recent survey commissioned by Reese’s, 90% of Americans say that they have traded, or wish they could have traded their unwanted candy on Halloween. This campaign was a way of raising brand awareness and, because they only had one stationed in New York City, it had people flooding to social media to talk about Reese’s.
SO much great data!
Data is compelling. It can be used to support your decisions and to drive your actions. However, analytics that come from social media can be pretty intense. Knowing what to track can be a bit of a challenge, but seeing the results of your hard work from the data is very rewarding. These are the best items to track:
· Bounce rates
· Likes, clicks, shares
· Page views
Other items to look at to help make informed decisions are:
· The time that the most popular post was sent
· Which post worked best on which platform
· What your audience is saying on each platform
