We’ve been working extensively in the field of social media in the last few months, across a number of verticals.
Without exception, we’ve been able to build large audiences of engaged friends and followers through consistent strategies of regular communications combining information and entertainment.
Unfortunately that’s not enough. While we can conduct surveys that measure changing perceptions towards a brand or service, the bottom line is … well … the bottom line. If we can’t persuade these people to buy anything, then it’s difficult to justify the activity – particularly when you consider how time consuming executing an effective social media strategy can be.
We’ve been experimenting with a number of different routes to conversion – offers and promotions, unique customer status etc. – and the one that seems to work best is an event.
Plotting an on or off line event gives us something tangible to work towards. You know when and where the event is happening, which allows us to plot communications and drivers of peer-to-peer activity, and insert specific targets for the campaign along the way.
Of course, we still continue with our regular mix of entertaining and informative updates. We need a solid base behind us if we are to generate sufficient momentum for the event. We also need to establish credibility with what will continue to be our hard core fan base.
But providing something that gets people genuinely excited and allows us to either get customers to try the product or service, or at the very least move them to a direct response arena, is the missing link in our social media strategies.
