Now that we have discussed the WHO in Part 1, “Who Is Going to Run This Social Media Thing?” we need to discuss the HOW.
Congratulations for entering into the new media world. You now have a facebook account, a Twitter account, a YouTube account, a Flickr account, and a blogger account, as well as your traditional website. Now comes the tricky part; using them appropriately. You know who is going to run this part of your business. Now you need to know what type of information to put on each channel.
A major mistake that companies make is that they rush in and try to simply fill each channel. They take a medium that they have some comfort in, and try to force it to fit into the new Social Mediums. Let me give you an example.
An automotive dealership runs a print ad of a sale that is going on this weekend. They then take the image file, and connect it onto their webpage, under the “Specials” tab. On Twitter, they say, “Check out our specials! www.mysite.com/specials/todaysdate.jpg” On facebook, they write, “Check out our current specials!” and include the link to their specials page. On flickr, they upload the ad as a graphic. YouTube gets it as a single image set to the dealership’s world famous jingle “Hugo’s Yugo, Drive Away Today.” And lastly, so as to not ignore the blog account, they rewrite the ad, removing the images, with all of the fine print explained.
What the previous example showed is how to take an idea that works well in one medium and try to stuff it into as many other mediums as possible. A grilled chicken Caesar salad may make a great lunch, but most wouldn’t care for it for breakfast. Want to see the same base ad campaign oriented for each medium, rather than just cramming the same ad crammed into as many different channels as you can?
An automotive dealership runs a print ad of a sale that is going on this weekend. They then take the image file, and connect it onto their website, under the “Specials” tab. On Twitter, they say, “We are running a great promotion this weekend! Tweet #HUGOYOGO for added savings! http://Bit.ly/S45Fhaj3” (still provide the link, just don’t make it so glaringly obvious) On facebook, they write, “Exciting things are happening this weekend. Do you see your next car here? Like this post and receive a free gift when you arrive!” and include the link to their specials page. On Flickr, they upload a new set, which showcases one vehicle that the ad is about. YouTube gets a flip camera recorded video of a walk around on the ad car, highlighting how wonderful a vehicle this is, and mentioning the excellent savings that are going on this weekend only. Lastly, on the blog account, there is an article explaining why now is the best time to purchase a vehicle, due to the fact that factory incentives for your brand typically run their highest in December, in order to clear the lots, turn the inventory, and make room for the influx of cars come February.
Just because facebook has a tool to automatically post everything you put on there to Twitter, it does not mean you have just taken out two birds with one stone. (Sorry Twitter Bluebird, pun not intended) Your material needs to be reformatted into the appropriate manner for each medium. The example used here is obviously a shortened version of how to reformat for Social Media, but it shows the point: Don’t simply regurgitate your printed ad into every possible channel out there.
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