Blog: Marketing that Inspires

Extending your Brand with Social Media

  

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This morning the Willamette Valley American Marketing Association hosted a Java Talk on Extending Your Brand with Social Media. Our Pres, Chris Meeker facilitated. The group discussed a wide range of topics on how to maximize the benefit your business can get from using Facebook, Twitter, and other areas of electronic and social media. Here are some points from the lively discussion:

Use social media as one more way to connect with potential or current clients. It's an addition to your web site, print ads, sponsorships, etc.

Go where your clients are. Start with the social media site that your clients use the most. Then you can add the second most popular site as you become more comfortable with the medium.

Voice:

• Social media is informal but must still reflect the brand.
• Develop a voice that is large part journalistic and small part marketing.
• If there is more than one person from your organization posting, use the poster's name with each post so your readers can connect with you. Being anonymous dilutes your voice significantly.

Content:

• Fun interactivity: Create a way for clients to participate and to encourage interaction among fans (an event, contest, prize, question, etc.)
• Talk about your clients' business/organizations (after asking their permission)
• Share resources (interesting articles, how to's etc.) It shouldn't always be about you.
• Give credit to others when they're involved. It's the polite thing to do. Plus they might share your post.
• Photos and links: Use photos and links as often as possible because they are quick and interesting. If you can find an easy way to post photos on your website and drive people there rather than to Flickr or Twitpic, you create an opportunity to have someone see your website.

Cross pollinate frequently:

• Link to social media site from website, email signature, email newsletter and blog
• Use Social media posts to direct people to website and blog when relevant
• Encourage fans to share the info with others by posting useful or widely interesting posts
• Post on clients' social media pages

Imagine Group Great Giveaway Game:

• Goals of the Game: help non-profits, Give back to the community. Publicize Imagine Group and the 3 divisions.
• Mostly electronically promoted (with some after the fact PR)
• Publicized via our eNewsletter (3600 people), Facebook fan page and our individual FB accounts, Twitter
• Results: 112 nominations for 49 different organizations (61 from Facebook, 46 from our website's blog, 3 from Twitter, 2 via e-mail.)

Remember, people are reading even if they never post. Seeing posts from you and others is why they read.