Developing a Content Strategy for Social Media Will Help It Work for You Instead of Against You
Whether you choose to engage in social media or not, it is engaged with you. That can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. Here are just two examples where social media is hurting the business bottom line.
A restaurant customer has food poisoning. He posts about it. There’s no proof that it was the meal, but the facts don’t matter. His Facebook post reaches hundreds of the restaurant’s potential customers. Now the restaurant’s reputation is on the line.
A hotel guest doesn’t like the decor. She posts about it on a national website. Others respond, telling their stories. Each incident is small and not particularly important in the scheme of things. Yet the bad publicity is giving the hotel an image problem. Since travelers go online to get their bookings, they also look for reviews. The hotel starts losing customers.
Change the restaurant to an auto shop or the hotel to a dentist office. The exact details don’t matter. What is important is that social media can have a major effect on our businesses. The key is to be engaged before a big problem occurs. By developing a content strategy for social media, you’ll be ready.
Put a Strategy in Place
A good social media strategy generates goodwill for your business. Then you will have a platform from which to deliver your own messages. This should help you move past any bad publicity.
Facebook and other social media can be turned to your advantage. Keep it active with posts about your business activities, especially those that show happy customers or community engagement. Make a point to inform and entertain, engaging your customers not just preaching to them.
Don’t forget that your Facebook page or your website’s online chat may be where unhappy customers go to get their problems addressed. Equally important, it’s also where they will go for information. Be ready for them. If the lines of communication are open, you are more likely to get receptive listeners. It’s all part of a disciplined social media listening strategy.
Business managers should respond to questions and concerns that are raised online. Responses should make it clear that you are listening to the criticism and you want your customers to feel heard.
Bad publicity sometimes requires targeted action. You may need more SEO in your website content to push your rankings back up. It may be worth paying for placement in Google rankings. You may want to put ads on Facebook that target customers in your community.
Contact Elivate to Learn More
Engaging with social media is a necessary part of the business landscape today. Ask the team at Elivate at how you can do this and stay within your marketing budget.
