Social media is a moving target with a long memory. A clear plan and seasoned guide are vital.
Early in the era of social media, we would encounter folks requesting a “social media marketing plan” (as if it were discrete from other marketing efforts) and asking to be broadcast in every channel. Then, along came Brian Solis in 2008, explaining the near-infinite options and combinations of social media channels that were then available (see the updated version from 2015). People began to understand: social needs to be customized to your business and your customers. You cannot afford and do not need to be everywhere.
Developing and publishing appropriate and timely content through social media outlets — identified and matched to your target audience — helps to maintain your presence across channels where research is done and decisions are made.
Social works well in concert with your other frequency marketing plans to extend messages generated from or for other platforms to your audience of followers and their social community.
Social media is a participatory effort. It’s not sufficient to drop in once and leave, and one-way communication is ineffective.
Whether you want a bigger presence and voice on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter, to be truly successful with social your business needs to be intentional and authentic in voice and have a plan to regularly communicate appropriate messages to carefully selected groups. And, of course, you’ll want to capture metrics on the backend to help evaluate engagement as a measurement of success.
Recommended Reading
Market Like a Pro: Claim Your Custom Profile URL on LinkedIn
How many times have you received an email message from someone who proudly displays their LinkedIn Profile URL in their auto signature that looks like this: www.linkedin.com/in/johndoe8675309 and thought that it appeared kludgy and unprofessional?
In contrast, how many times have you received an email message from someone whose auto signature contains a really clean Custom Profile URL like www.linkedin/in/janedoe and wondered, wow, she must know something I don’t or have been using LinkedIn for a long time?
Don’t be fooled. Just because Jane Doe has a simple URL doesn’t mean that she’s a long-term user. It simply means she’s sophisticated enough to have claimed her Customer profile and you can, too! Here’s how:
1. Open LinkedIn
2. Click on Your Photo to open your Profile
3. Click on Contact Info to view your Contact Info
4. Click on the pencil to the far right of your Contact Info to edit Your Profile
5. At the upper right-hand corner of your Profile URL, click on the tiny arrow box …
And a new window will open with your Public profile settings
6. In the right-hand column beneath Edit your custom URL, click on the pencil. The container will expand and a note with instructions will appear:
You are now ready to edit your custom URL.
If you have an uncommon name, the first and simplest approach may be to just remove the randomly assigned digits following your name. If that identity has already been claimed, proceed with the simplest combination of characters available that professionally represents your identity.
Remember, this is going to be a public profile so don’t include characters or digits found in your password. We would also advise that you avoid any digits that would indicate your age or graduation year.
7. Once you’ve identified a satisfactory Custom URL, hit Save and LinkedIn will acknowledge your request:
8. Now if you include your Custom profile link in your auto signature on your work or personal email, on your phone, laptop or tablet, you will need to remember to go and update your information there, too, proudly displaying your new Custom profile and getting rid of the legacy one that looks like something assigned by gmail or, worse, AOL.