Whether or not you had any interest in watching The Roast of Charlie Sheen on Comedy Central last week, there’s something to be discussed about last Monday’s special that I’m sure had Sheen’s publicist saying, “Winning!” According to “The Hollywood Reporter,” the Roast was the most discussed show on Monday night on social media—beating out Sheen’s old spot, the premier of Two and a Half Men that now stars Ashton Kutcher.
Furthermore, the report shows that while the premier of the new Two and a Half Men blew the Comedy Central special out of the water with 28 million viewers (Sheen drew 6.4 million Roast viewers—which is the most-watched show of the franchise), Sheen’s Roast received approximately 400,000 tweets throughout the night, leading the CBS show by nearly 250,000 comments.
Clearly, Sheen’s appeal—past and present—is still ‘winning’ with audiences. Like Sheen (although troubled), companies are learning how to outshine the competition with social media marketing. However, businesses shouldn’t jump into social media without a strategy in place for ‘winning’. Read on to learn where to start.
Identify Your Goals
- 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
- Increased profitability
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. Know everything about your strengths and weaknesses, and know about your competition—their strengths and weaknesses.
Recognize your targeted users, and understand the platforms to which those users might best respond. 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 popular right now. Spending some time 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! Winners at social media deliver what their fans and audiences crave—info that caters to their interests and resources and stories that are worth talking about for days and even years to come. After getting all your material in order (i.e., setting up user accounts across the various social media platforms that spread your company’s consistent messaging), you must begin providing meaningful content your target audience will want to read. 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, LISTEN to what your audience is telling you.
Now, go get ‘em! And, if you need our ‘tiger blood’, also known as rock star social media skills, drop corecubed a line. We’re happy to help!