If the massive popularity of last year's viral "ALS ice bucket challenge" was any indication, social media is only going to get bigger and bigger in 2015, Jess Stephens, chief marketing officer of SmartFocus, writing for Internet Retailer says.
That's why all businesses need to make the most out of their social media presence with a full-fledged, active and detailed strategy.
Ms. Stephens offers these five tips to develop your brand online through the use of Twitter, Facebook and the like:
1. Data mining
"All retailers need to be continuously reviewing their own social media accounts, exploring trending topics, and finding out what people are saying about their brand. Such information gathering can lead your company to greater insights about your reputation, efficacy of communication, and trends to capitalize on in order to extend your reach to an audience."
2. Exclusive offers
"It's advantageous to look ahead at upcoming holidays and events, like Easter or Mother's Day, and link social media promotions to them."
3. Customer service
"Quickly responding to an unhappy customer on a public platform can instantly turn a situation around, generating a positive company impression across the board."
4. Surveys and competitions
"It's important to keep in mind what sort of approaches and content will be most engaging to your different customers so that they're actively drawn to take part in a survey or competition."
5. Contextualization and personalization
"Tailoring customers' experiences through taking into account their individual preferences, behaviors, past purchases, environment, location, gender, age and any other pertinent data can lead to highly targeted social interactions that will make customers feel as if a retailer is talking directly to them."
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