Why You Should Think Long Term for Social Media Success

I open my Facebook account on a Saturday afternoon and see a message from one my very good friends to like one of the pages that he has created on this humongous social platform. He will kill me if I mention his name here (seeing the context), he works for a digital marketing agency and is a very talented person (He would beg me to mention his name now).

Coming back to the point, this was one of the many messages for likes that I get from friends every week. Sometimes I do wonder if this is the right way to get the numbers increasing. I do imagine he would be under regular scrutiny to get the numbers moving on social channel. It is all about numbers; whatever you are able to show in numbers is what you achieve. To some extent measurability or the ROI definitions hold true for big companies.

Whenever you are creating a marketing budget for any campaign you define the returns for your investment. Although the numbers for BTL, outdoor and other promotions can be vague, the digital side of marketing is as clear as Saint Gobain. The transparency is not only in terms of sales numbers through eCommerce but also to the engagement level that a product or a company is generating on social. The numbers, insights and all this noise around it stands true, digital is by far the most measurable form of marketing in the world.

The page likes, video views, website hits, referrals, conversions and followers are only a few elements that define your identity on social. It is good to hear that companies are now focusing on digital as a medium of their promotions instead of going the traditional route. I do not really believe this tactic of getting ‘forced’ likes, however likes this may get you. The kingdom of social cannot be conquered unless and until you have content as a part of your artillery. So what should be the tactics that you should follow ?

It does not matter if you are an agency, a corporate or an individual running a page or a channel, always good to have a planned tactics when you are war footing for your social victory. Here are few pointers that can really be the characteristics of a successful social strategy for any product or company page :

Engaging content:

If you believe you have a million followers on Facebook and you have won the social battle, here is a breaking news – you have not. The effort to go an extra mile with a sustained engagement level is the thing which counts the most. Put up interesting and engaging stuff is a must to maintain the entertainment levels for your audiences. This is a must to have the people be loyal to your page.

A definite call to action:

In the end it is all about interaction, how you do it on social is not a mystery anymore. I have seen the pages posting “Dumbest” of updates can score more in terms of ‘engagement levels’. I saw a post putting up a cute picture of a child playing the game “ Super Mario” , and asking users to like it if you had a similar childhood. Another post had a picture of Shahrukh, the post said How many Likes for the King Khan. If I remember correctly, the post showed around 30K odd likes. But imagine how simpler can the content be? Create effective call to action.

Post content not just text:

A cliché line which I am sure you must have heard of is – A picture says a thousand words, but I believe a nice picture says a billion. Using of Imagery, video and animations with the posts will not only expand the reach, but also create more impact than putting the textual posts up. Try scrolling down a page on Facebook and you will always stop at pictures that behold you and videos that are interesting.

Get Attached:

A post went up at Sachin Tendulkar’s birthday and up goes the engagement graph on Facebook. This was nothing new, nothing inquisitive but the amount of feelings that people have for Sachin and Cricket in this nation is tremendous. The content which touches the feelings of people is often the most popular content on the internet. The more the attachment value of your post, blog, video or the tweet the more people you will actually reach out .

Key Takeaways:

Focusing only on the short term benefits of social media content will get you no where. Think about a long term relationship with your fans, and not on the number of likes on your posts. It is sad that success is measured by the initial reach, engagement, traffic generated, leads and sales. But we miss out on the broader impact.

Go beyond likes, retweets, shares and traffic to figure out how social media has impacted your business. You need to be strategic and chalk out long term a plan with specific goals in mind. Think of it as an investment. You won't achieve social media success overnight but I am sure your social media community will be a valuable asset for your business.