We talk to clients every day, from entrepreneurs to corporate entities, who are attempting to get their arms around social media marketing. We tell them it’s about building social media credibility and authenticity, understanding content development and curation,  leveraging new tools and platforms and much more……

Be authentic - meaning, imbibe your brand’s social media presence with attributes that underscore what your business, products and services are all about, with some personality. Social authenticity is like cooking a great bouillabaisse, requiring a complex blend of ingredients that some times aren’t readily apparent. Authenticity happens over time and is shaped somewhat by trial and error - critical to try new things and listen to feedback from your community to gauge what’s resonating and what isn’t.

Be a Content Spreader second to none - we all fall in love with the promise of social media via the next shiny bright new kid coming down the block with a sexy brand wrapped in venture capital bucks. But, in the end, much of the success of social media can be attributed to plain old hard work in a digital sense.  A blog is still the most wonderful way to establish a viable social media presence. And, it needs to be spread, amplified and enhanced to be heard. 30K Foot Exec Summary:

• Set up Blog via WordPress
• Connect it to you your LinkedIn profile
• Every Blog  post should be amplified via Twitter
• Use Posterous or Tumblr Platforms (be aware of duplicate content issues)
• Reference your Blog in online and offline marketing
• Set up Feedburner Account and Newsletter sign up for your Blog

Break some rules - we are connected with and Following tons of other social media marketing agencies around the world. In a classic competitive marketing scenario we would not echo their digital content via our social media accounts, or even mention them. But, in this new world order we are all building, the order of the day is coopetete right? I help them and they help me, even though in some cases we may be competing for the same customers. Break some rules of your own and forge a new path……

Identify your tribe - who are you connected to socially and or who makes up your tribe. A tribe in this context is anyone and everyone loosely connected in your market or sphere of influence. It’s an organic beast that is constantly being shaped and defined by market forces. Once you identify your tribe you will then need to understand where they congregate. Are they using Twitter, Facebook or Linked in to communicate and adopt to these social platforms mores? Once your brand understands these attributes you can then engage your content with the community.

Embrace patience as part of your mantra - unfortunately, much of the essence around social media is in its promise. Your challenge is to invest in it patiently early on while adding back end measurement tools that help you get a handle on how effective social media marketing is. The big picture measurements can include the following:

• Creating  Buzz and Brand Awareness
• Get Targeted Customers Talking About Products & Services
• Establish and Grow Presence in Social Communities
• Track Brand Engagement
• Monitor Competitors
• Test Product Marketing, Functionality, Features & Pricing
• Raise and Drive Barriers to Entry
• Improves Market Focus of Organization by Forcing them to Adopt new Platforms, Processes and Procedures
• Positive or Negative Social Sentiment Analysis

Once you have a handle on 30K Foot Measurements you can move to these more refined metrics:

• Revenue
• Customer Acquisition
• Generate Keyword Rankings and Related Search Traffic
• Drive “real time search” traffic via Keywords in Social Streams
• Cross Promote and Curate Content to Drive Search Rankings & Visibility
• Utilize Social CRM to Engage with and Solve Customer Problems (Support)
• Identify Customer Influencers & Market Directly to Them
• Move Ecommerce Initiatives into Social Stream to Minimize COG
• Utilize Social Stream/Communities to Measure KPI
• Drives Blog & Newsletter Subscribers
• Leverages Content Development Costs

In summary, as we tell clients all the time. Effective social media marketing and authenticity are truly a blend of art and science. There are no fixed formulas for success - your building a brand and we hope this blog post gives you some critical takeaways that will enhance your social media marketing. Please sign up for our Newsletter or comment below if you have questions or thoughts.