Social media strategy can be a real guessing game sometimes. The ever-evolving social mediasphere forces social media marketers to evolve with it, making it difficult to determine a clear-cut plan for success. Some companies have scored big using social media, while others have flopped (or worse).
As an intern whose role is, in part, social media strategist, I’ve spent the past three and a half months on a quest to establish tried and true methods for navigating the somewhat murky waters of social media. But I think I’ve finally come to the end of that quest (for now), with the help of some of WordWrite’s inbound marketing experts, quite a few social media-related articles and even some social media experiments of my own. So let me impart some of my newly acquired wisdom to all those making their foray into the world of social media marketing. 
1. Create, support and engage in conversation—but never control it.
When your company integrates social media into its marketing plan, it has the opportunity to engage with current and potential customers in a more open and interactive way than ever before. You’re creating an online forum for discussion, and you want to ensure that your company plays a visible role in that discussion. That means that you introduce topics—whether they relate to your products and services, your industry or the latest happenings around the world—and you participate in the conversation that follows.
But participating in the conversation and controlling the conversation are two different things. You want to prove to your online audiences that you trust them and value their feedback, so you have to be honest with them. Yes, you should think carefully about how to position the information that you post online, but once it’s there, you need to own it. Don’t be fooled into thinking that ignoring or deleting a social media post that you don’t want to address makes it go away. Instead, roll with the way the conversation flows, and view every challenge that arises among your online audience as an opportunity to demonstrate your company’s commitment to transparency and authenticity.
2. Understand the unique qualities of each social media platform.
It’s been said over and over that social media sites are not the same, but I think it’s worth saying one more time. The fact that each social media site is different from the next leads to two realizations. First, you won’t benefit from using a cross-platform strategy. Each platform was created to translate a message to a certain audience in a certain way; so trying to communicate the same way on Facebook that you would on Twitter or LinkedIn just won’t work.
Second, you have to determine which platforms serve your company and your target audiences best. In order to choose the social media sites that will engage your audiences, you have to know who your audiences are and how they like to communicate. But you also need to research each platform and its specific features so that you can craft your message accordingly.
3. Don’t try to appeal to everyone on social media.
There is a tendency to get carried away with social media marketing and think that large-scale marketing efforts will produce big results. You can’t let your company get distracted by the overwhelming nature of social media; stick to marketing to your target audiences. You don’t have to be on every social media site, and you don’t need to direct your efforts at each of your target audiences all at once. Try developing smaller social media campaigns that focus on particular audience segments and particular social media channels at a time. This way, you’ll reaffirm your credibility with current customers and prove to potential customers that you’re willing and able to give each of them the attention they want and need.
As I said before, social media trends are constantly changing, and we must realize that the guidelines in place right now won’t necessarily stay the same for long. Flexibility is essential for any social media marketer, and so the social media quest inevitably continues.
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Angela Monaco is an intern for WordWrite Communications.
