Gold Medal Marketing Strategy: Social Media

This month, the world is focused on its most elite athletes in winter sports competing in Vancouver, Canada in the XXI Olympic Winter Games. Most of these athletes have devoted years, if not most of their lives, to mastering their sports in preparation for this prestigious opportunity. Getting to this level has required strength, discipline, dedication and intensive training, as well as expert guidance from experienced, knowledgeable coaches.

If you think about it, learning how to beat the competition as an athlete is not unlike learning how to outshine the competition in social media marketing. For the same reason an athlete determined to take home the gold wouldn't just jump into the competition without a strategy for winning, companies shouldn't jump into social media marketing without a strategy in place for winning. After all, you create goals and strategies for other aspects of your marketing campaigns - why should social media marketing be any different?

Identify Your Goals

Every athlete participating in the Winter Olympics dreams of taking home the gold. Every business person wants to take home the business gold, as well. Some common business goals include:

• Increased sales
• Increased brand awareness
• Increased authority - establishment of your company as an expert in your industry
• Knowledge of products or services your audience really wants or needs
• The real gold medal - increased profitability!

Those are just a few... check out this blog for some other possible goals for business social media use.

SWOT Knowledge is Power!

While understanding your goals is very important, before a social media strategy can be fully developed, you need to lay the groundwork for success with some solid research. Long before the first competition takes place, an Olympic skier will know everything about his strengths and weaknesses, the venue and its variances, and his fellow teammates - their strengths, their weaknesses, their training regiment, their coaches, their past successes and failures. He will have also spent a lot of time comparing different equipment to identify the type of skis, boots, and poles that will maximize his chances for winning.

The same is true for a business desiring to win at social media. Knowing the product, knowing the targeted users, understanding the platforms to which those users might best respond, and having the insight into how you want the customer to act when interfacing all are components of a strategy to win at social media as a marketing tactic.

Nielson recently reported that global time spent on social media sites has increased 82 percent from this same time last year. However, note that there are a variety of social media sites, and not all people spend time on the same sites. You have to understand the demographics for each and also how each might help you reach your targeted audience. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are the most popular now. Spending some time up front tracking where your target audience is interacting will help pinpoint the best social networking sites for your business.

Give 'Em Something to Talk About

Once you've compiled all the research, it's time to test the waters and take the polar bear plunge! Olympic athletes always deliver what their fans and audiences crave - phenomenal performances and cutthroat competitions that are worth talking about for days and even years to come. After getting all your equipment in order (i.e., setting up user accounts across the various social media platforms that spread your company's consistent messaging), you must begin to provide meaningful content your target audience will want to read, and provide it often and consistently. This content serves as a way to facilitate ongoing conversation, as well as keep your company top of mind. Just be sure to interact without promoting, and, most importantly, to LISTEN to what your audience is telling you.

The Coach Can Make the Difference

According to a study by KRC Research, by 2010, 82% of all companies will be using social media marketing. However, without a solid understanding of how to use social media effectively, many of these companies will flounder. Behind every Olympic gold medal winning athlete is a knowledgeable coach providing wisdom and guidance based on years of experience. The best coaches can not only help design an award-winning social media marketing strategy, but can also provide guidance along the way.

Technology and social media platforms are evolving, and a great coach will keep your business at the forefront, tweaking the strategy as needed.

Please take our Social Media Marketing Survey

Whether you're looking for a partner to assist your business in beginning to forge into social media, or searching for help with an Olympic-sized social media strategy, corecubed can earn your business a place on the social media podium.

Let corecubed help you set up, implement and track the progress of any social media campaign. Now that is a sure fire gold medal strategy!

Interesting Quotes

"Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell."
- Seth Godin

"Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object and instead become part of the everyday lexicon of business."
- Charlene Li, Founder, Altimeter Group

"The social phone is ringing. Are you answering?"
- Marcel Lerbun

"No matter what your niche is, you need to become part of the community. Join the conversation... If you put out great content, you will be found. Stick with it..."
- Gary Vaynerchuk

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