3 Steps to Take for Social Media Awareness

Guest Post By: Alex Fernandez, Social Media Strategist at PTE

Creating social media awareness can be the difference between success and failure for any social media marketing campaign. It’s great that you’ve started to leverage social media, and you may have some great content ideas – but you have to let the world know that you’re here! Ask yourself: do your employees and customers have multiple chances to learn about your social media involvement each time they interact with the brand?

The array of opportunities to communicate that you’re using social media is only limited by your creativity. Still, there are several basic steps all should follow when getting started. Here are a few to consider:

Internal awareness comes first. This step is often overlooked, especially with larger companies. In the early stages of a social campaign (when accounts are being created): audience sizes are very small, and it’s not set in stone who will be doing what. Internal awareness solves this issue. Your initial social media advocates should be people working within the organization. Have a meeting with your leadership team to talk about how to spread the word, include social media as a topic in your next newsletter, email links to your social assets and ask for involvement – anything to get the word spreading internally.

Integrate with other communications. Social media should be treated like any media – it needs to be leveraged strategically. While there are many nuances to social etiquette, communications should still be aligned with your overall marketing strategy. Think back to when BestBuy started their Twelpforce campaign: BestBuy launched a 24/7 Twitter-based customer service platform, and created awareness for the campaign with a fully integrated ad campaign, including TV, print, and online display ads. If a large-scale campaign is out of the question, adding social icons and links to your website’s homepage and E-communications is a great start. Social media links should also be included in your email signature.

Add social cues to your print materials. This goes hand-in-hand with integrated marketing communications, but speaks more to attracting the offline world to your social media. For example, if you are having tri-fold brochures, postcards, POS materials, direct mail, or business cards printed, be sure to make sure they have URLs, social icons, or QR codes (a common practice targeting smart phone users) to promote your social media assets. Having these cues on your print materials provides a tangible reminder of your online community.

If your brand is leveraging all of the above means for creating social media awareness, then you are off to a great start! If not, implement some (or all) of the above strategies, and think up a few new ones while you’re at it!

Should you need assistance with your social media awesomeness… [shameless PTE plug] feel free to contact us!