We have watched social media marketing evolve! It used to be a job passed off to interns, and now it has become the backbone of nearly everything we do in marketing. So why is it that social still lives in its own world? How can we let something so important, something that touches nearly everything else we are doing, work on its own?
The answer is we can’t.
To have an effective and impactful marketing strategy, social can no longer be cut off from everything else we are doing within the organization. When social is in the silos you aren’t able to maximize your marketing efforts and create an engaging experience for customers. It’s when social is the thread running through everything you are doing you will see your best results.
So here are four things you need to do to get social off its island and properly integrated into your marketing mix.
1. Get Rid Of Your Social Team
You need to get rid of your social media team/department/division because social is a part of everything you do in marketing, not some special channel. How are you supposed to use social efficiently if it’s living in a bubble? How are you supposed to use it to highlight everything your marketing team is working on if it has its own agenda, content calendar and goals?
Social is tied to everything we do within in marketing. From customer and competitive outreach and research, content marketing and PR-social has it’s footprint everywhere. So it can’t be its own department anymore, it needs to be involved in every department. It’s time to make social media meet the rest of the marketing family!
2. Stop Looking At Social As Part Of The Funnel
Social media should not be looked at as part of the marketing funnel. When we do that we are absolutely putting it away in its own box and are limiting how we think about it and use it. When we look at it as a tool within marketing that runs parallel to the marketing funnel, highlighting and expanding on all other channels that’s when it becomes immersed in everything we do.
3. A Marketing Dashboard- Not A Social Dashboard
If you are not already measuring social and tracking results then before you do any of these four steps you need to do that. Now, most marketers who are doing this are using some type of dashboard and the amazing thing about a marketing dashboard is that it can and will go beyond social data. You can integrate it with nearly every channel, on or offline, that is a part of your marketing strategy.
When marketers do this, it makes social a lot more digestible and comparable to other channels. They can look at social next to PR, next to in-store sales, next to email campaigns results and understand how it is impacting those all results or if those channels are gaining the same type of traction social is. Dashboards make it possible to use all your marketing insights to inform the decision-making process.
Another important component of the dashboard is it helps tie social results and metrics back to marketing and business goals. So many marketers get caught up in social jargon, especially when explaining results to C-Level Executives and sales teams. These people don’t care about likes, engagement, and retweets! They care about sales, consumer retention and budget. A dashboard lets you create reports and share information and results in a way that people outside of marketing can not only understand but become interested in!
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4. A Team Outside Of Marketing
You want other departments to not only take interest in social but to take it seriously? Then get them involved! Create an employee advocacy program that will help drive social media marketing throughout the company. Whether they are content creators or help spread content in their social networks through likes, shares, and retweets. When you get people involved outside of marketing it helps them feel like they have skin in the game and will be rooting for the success of your social strategy too.
Wrap It Up
Brands who can integrate social into everything they do can improve results, measurement, accountability, and visibility within the entire organization. When we stop making social feel special and use it to amplify and support everything else we can truly see the power and impact it can have.
Did this make you think of social differently? Are you ready to give social this much power? Let it impact your brand like it’s supposed to? Then you are ready to take social out of the silos!
Want more help with your social content? Check out this post 5 Lies About Social Media Marketing here.