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Social media can be a lot of fun if you get the hang of it while also pulling in real marketing results for your association. The next time you’re struggling to make a connection, try some of our solutions and see how you can move forward!
Using social media as an all powerful tool to interact and engage with your audience isn’t as easy as it’s cracked up to be. So, what can you do to get a better grip on things and drive up more interaction on your social platforms?
Though social media is one of those most highly used marketing tools, many CEOs and professionals out there that are using it still find themselves coming up short. The truth is, if social media isn’t used the right way, it can create problems for your association, its brand, its reputation with members, and more. In fact, social media can do your organization more harm than good if approached in the wrong context. You don’t want to be the reason that social media isn’t working for your association, but it isn’t your fault if certain aspects are confusing or hard to navigate.
There are a lot of common misconceptions and frustrations that all social media users face no matter the industry they’re in. And luckily enough, there are solutions for most of these frustrations. We’d like to do our best to give you the best shot at reaching members with your social media platforms no matter your prior knowledge in social media or technology in general. So, let’s talk about 3 struggles many association professionals can face when navigating a social media marketing strategy of their own. We’ll show you why you may be facing these problems and how you can get around the obstacles of social media that really puzzle you. Say goodbye to social media frustration with our help!
Sure, your association has a presence on each and every one of the social media platforms your members use. But what are you actually doing on these platforms? Not knowing your association’s purpose when using social media can really leave you struggling to come up with creative and impactful content that members can interact with. If you aren’t sure of your “why”, you won’t be able to make that genuine connection that members and non-members are craving from your organization.
In order to solve this problem, it’s important you sit down with your association’s marketing team and really flesh out the purpose of you being on each social media channel. This is just as important as finding your association’s mission, so don’t take it for granted. To do this, you want to shift your focus on what you do for your members. Are you an association that has a heavy impact on government laws and advocacy? Are you one that provides amazing professional resources to those you work with? If you know your niche, you can then use it to drive home related content in the form of social media posts. Sitting down and working on your purpose for creating social media content can relieve a lot of the stress behind marketing.
You’ve been doing your best to create top tier content for your association’s social media channels, but you notice even your best efforts are falling flat. What gives? Well, it could be the channels you’re utilizing. Are you absolutely sure these are the channels that the majority of members value most? If you don’t have a proper grasp on where your members hang out online, you could totally be wasting your time on channels that really don’t matter.
For this problem, you’ll want to run a survey with members to find out what social media platforms they use the most and which ones they’d like to be interacted with on. These two can vary. For example, your members may love Facebook for personal connections, but want to be engaged with on a more public platform like Twitter or LinkedIn. Or, they may find Facebook is their only used platform. Running a survey and analyzing your results can give you a clear answer on where to focus your energy and what platforms to create content around. This can take a lot of the guessing out of social media marketing and give your marketing team a breather if they’re churning out content that isn’t performing well due to lack of an audience.
So, you know why you’re using social media, you’re reaching out to members on the platforms they use, and you’re creating amazing content. But, you’re still having problems making real connections with your audience. In this case, it could be the tone you’re setting on your social media pages. In marketing, there’s a time for business and a time for personal communication. And with social media, if you’re sticking strictly to interacting in a business tone, audiences could be turned off from interacting. They may feel intimidated, confused, or just plain bored with your social “voice”.
Take things easy! Social media marketing does not have to be as intense or data driven as your other marketing or advertising campaigns. While it’s great to drive home your value through quantitative research and real results, social media should be a time for focusing on real conversations with your audience. To get your audience talking, you’ll want to create posts that they can relate to and share their thoughts on.
Get to know what their interests are and create content around those interests. You may want to use social media to promote fun events, hold polls on what your members want, share photos and videos around the office, and more. You never want to leave out the opportunity to have a fun and genuine interaction with a potential new member in the comments section!
Social media can be a lot of fun if you get the hang of it while also pulling in real marketing results for your association. The next time you’re struggling to make a connection, try some of our solutions and see how you can move forward from there!
