Some of the best lessons I’ve learned as a marketer have been through active learner as a consumer. In fact, as business communicators I think it’s vital that we remain acutely aware of the other side of the equation. This is true no matter what hat we wear. For example, if we’re filling a public relations function, we’re always more effective when we remember to think like a journalist. I often draw on my years as a journalist when I wear my PR hat. Likewise, in advertising think like the audience, consume advertising creative and copy everywhere. That said, when it comes to marketing, especially using social media as a tactic, the golden rule really does apply.
Social Media Marketing 101: Keep It Real
Nothing is going to come of your social efforts if you just sit behind a twitter account and send out tweets and retweets prolifically. Especially when it comes times to quantify your impact either with quantitative analysis or qualitative analysis. I was reminded of how important it is to keep it real after visiting one of my favorite neighborhood haunts recently in Minneapolis. EatShop is a newer restaurant that has owners who (stealing a word from earlier) are prolific tweeters! Over several visits I exchanged tweets with the brand’s handle as well as the owner. I didn’t think much of it other than I thought it was cool to be talking to the guy making my food. (Great food by the way if you’re ever looking for a great atmosphere in the west metro). On a recent visit with a friend I heard my name called from behind. Much to my chagrin, it was the chef/owner who saw me checkin/tweet and wanted to come out and thank me in person for my patronage.
It was a busy night, but the owner and chef took the time to come out and bring the work that had been done on Twitter into a real life connection endearing himself and his restaurant to me permanently. That is a qualitative ROI of social media.
Two Ways To bring Social Media Offline
The chef of EatShop went the distance to take Social Media Offline and make a personal touch. There’s a lot of other ways you can do the same thing and quantitatively or qualitatively measure and extend your social media efforts both endearing yourself to your fans and your bottom line. Here’s two more.
Social Only Promotions
Share social only promotions to drive in store traffic. This is the quickest way to correlate social connections to revenue. A social connection brings the promotion in and transacts, you have direct ROI.
Host TweetUps
Host TweetUps (or other social network relevant party) exclusive for your fans. If you have a brick and mortar location, even better! Let your fans mingle with each other as well. They’ll see your brand as a way to socialize with others who immediately share a common interest, a love for your brand!
What other ways have you brought your social media marketing efforts offline?
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