Evolution of media and communication is bringing some new exciting times when it comes to public relations & marketing, it is actually giving them a chance to get back to their roots - better and more effective communication. To achieve better communication, you need to reach your target audience - listen to them and interact in proper ways.
Change Of Media -> Change Of Profession
Social media is by any means not a new phenomenon, since people have always tend to connect through their social interests. Internet and social media hadn't really bring breakthrough in that terms but they did it in different way - enabling the visibility and availability of our social contacts and connections to reach a new level. Percentage of population that is active online is increasing on a daily basis and internet today is much more then it used to be - it is a right of every individual to express himself freely and connect with other individuals who he desires to communicate with. If you combine mobile networking with this trend, what you will get is a user who is always online, connected and ready to access every media with a touch of his fingertip. Users like that communicate regularly, and they demand two-way communication in return.
People Connect, Technologies Aid Them!
People connect and share content due to various reasons such as: finding information, inspiration, community participation, connecting with friends, amusement, promotions...
Taken that into consideration, social media should be perceived as communication engine rather than online destination, since it is not the one leading communication - that role still belongs to the people. Social media helps audiences to group up more easily due to their interests and opinions, and eventually, connect if that is their preference. In the past, it was really hard finding specific interests or discussions in the sea of information. Nowadays, technologies aid us efficiently to get in touch easier. Therefore, most of social media was created with the sole purpose of that - to help its users to find the content they want in easier ways. On first mention of social networking, many think of Facebook and Twitter but in reality situation is far more complex than that - it is an ecosystem of different network styles and online communities. All of them do have one revolutionary thing in common - they are two-way, interactive and divisible pages.
Basic types of social networks:
- Networking Sites - services designed to help people to connect online (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn)
- Blog
- Microblog (Tumblr, Twitter)
- Collaborative Pages (Wikipedia, Living social)
- Communities & Forums (Trip advisor, review pages)
- Content Sharing Communities (Youtube, vimeo)
- Geo-Social Networks (Foursquare)
- Virtual Worlds - life in virtual reality (Second Life)
One must better understand and join the surroundings of social media. The focus should always be on the community and communication with target audiences. Entering discussion that is relevant to stakeholders not only builds trust, it also successfully helps to build relationship, impact communities and inspire certain behaviors. All of that are foundations of relations with public which can deliver their full potential at social media.
Marketing As Easy As 6 Sentences
In an era like this, to differentiate yourself on the market has become easier than ever since you have various tools at your disposal. As see on the picture above, Facebook is a network with highest potential reach as of this day, so lets highlight his strongest side.
What Approach To Take?
When planning activity of any kind on social media it is really important to highlight the humane side - people get attached to people, not corporations. Social media consumers prefer 1 on 1 relationships rather than being a part of corporate communications. That is why it is of a crucial need to approach your stakeholders individually and reply in that manner, to every conversation, question or a comment.
It is preferable to understand a difference between image and character. Image can be defined as characteristics which upon we are perceived, and character is the human characteristic that allows us to engage in a more personal relationship with user. Therefore, image represents whole picture of the social media strategy while character would be observed in the way we interact.
How To Effectively Manage My Social Media?
- Meet Your Audience
You need to know who are you talking to, in order to know how to talk to them. Honest interaction is always appreciated and easier to remember. You must never sound like an automatized robot with automatized answers. - Interaction As A Main Goal
A major and crucial difference when you oppose new age media to the classic ones. You get an opportunity to be replied in real-time, and, if commanded effectively you will be rewarded with impressive quantity of positive WOM(word of mouth). - Listen!
In times like these, what people strive for the most - is someone listening to them. By listening, you put effort in building deeper relationships which results in bigger trust founded. It he future occasions it means prioritization. - Do Not Be A Big Bro 😉
Never reply too fast. Always wait for at least 10 minutes, ideal conversations should start without us interfering. Only participate on a minimal basis, in terms of new information, praising or a question to encourage further discussion. - Quality Rather Than Quantity!
Always strive for quality posts, since it is way more appealing to witness a quality post rather than bunch of less quality ones. - More Is Less
Modern person cannot gift too much of his time to a post online, and his focus is nowhere near close where it used to be. KISS is an acronym for "keep it short and simple". Principles of that must be deployed on a regular basis for effective goals reaching. - Watch Out For Frequency
When interacting with community, it is a smart idea to limit your posts depending on where you are deploying the strategy. In a way to do it, you must understand how different social networks work. For example, if you manage community on Facebook you should not post more than once a day, whereas on Twitter you may go with at least 2 posts per day.
These are my tips for achieving meaningful two-way communication with clients. If by any means you do not understand something or are curious on some theme, feel free to interact with me right away. I'm looking forward to it. 😊
Thought For The End
How things are looking right now, marketing and public relations are one of the best things out there to work with. All you need for success is a laptop, internet access and lots of willpower. To be honest you don't even need your products, nor any dollars. You can basically earn money for directing people on e-bay where to buy their things. It is that easy, all you need is a little bit of creativity. Idea wise, Steemit is much better platform than all of the networks I have mentioned earlier, it just didn't get all the deserved attention yet. Did you get the message now? You guys are the game changers. Enormous potential lies on this platform. So up your game, up the research you do - quality of your posts, and lets put this chain to some new heights! Together we can do it 😎
