The Social Media is Not Only For You “Marketers”

With most companies nowadays running social media marketing campaigns, it’s safe to say that the majority of them aren’t running them up to their full potential. That’s because in many companies and offices, the only people actually using social media for anything at all is the marketing team. This is because of a common misconception that has to do with the speed with which social media marketing came upon the world and its unfortunate name. While it is indeed marketing, leaving it to the sole use of the marketing team is a huge waste of potential resources.

So who should be using it? Everyone.Involving and integrating the whole company into a multi-faceted social media blitz will not only increase profits, but it will open new doors to thinking outside of the box that could give your company the edge when it comes to competitiveness in your industry. So, instead of leaving it to the marketing team to come to you with a plan for integration across the boards, take the initiative and push cross-functional social media marketing upon your company.

Why Does Everyone Have To Be Involved?

Since social media has dug in firmly and is here to stay, every department in the company should be looking at how they can use it to make the whole entity run better. Ideally, this will involve representatives from each department meeting up for social media brainstorming sessions, but here are a few suggestions to help get the ball rolling.

The Sales Team

Perhaps the biggest untapped resource of social media marketing is the sales leads which are out there. You have at your disposal a targeted marketing list: either people who already like your service or product or people who like your competition’s. Go after them! In your monitoring tool, implement a smart keyword search and get new leads.

Customer Service

Every B2C has a customer service department that is typically only using traditional methods to make themselves available to customers. In the future, social media outlets will be used, so start to plan ahead (or even implement them now) and you’re sure to stay at the forefront of the competition. Be certain you have a strategy, good management tools for social media and a clear plan and then see how social media can help build trust amongst your fans and followers.

Marketing and Communication Departments

Because traditional media is actually quickly becoming outdated media, it’s important that the marketing and communications departments stay on top of the latest trends, but also not forget what works. Campaigns shouldn’t always solely be aimed at social media; at times there should be some integration with standard media methods. Regardless, finding the mix of the perfect combination is what it’s all about.

Social media has one huge advantage in that you can instantly get feedback on the campaigns from the target audiences (i.e. likes, shares, comments, edge rankings, etc.). Applying this to your current and future campaigns helps you build a more responsive and non-plastic approach to monitoring and adjusting your sales and reputation. Be sure you’re using keyword searches and monitoring tools to do so.

Public Relations

The PR team should be closely monitoring this same feedback as well, but taking it a step further, scouring blogs, newsletters and other forms of lesser known social media to stay on top of public opinion. Having an extra set of ears to the ground will help the marketing team and vice versa, as both teams work hand in hand to create the exact public image and branding your company needs to succeed.

Purchasing Departments

If you’re in one of the larger companies that have purchasing departments, they can use research tools available online to monitor and assess the companies they will be making acquisitions from. Tracking their sales and other stats through social media is simple, fast and efficient.

Essentially, the possibilities are endless with each department and how they can use social media to boost their productivity. Consider getting the best and brightest together for some brain storming and expand upon some of the things we’ve touched on here

via blog.socialmaximizer.com