Social media strategy – professional interest vs. emotional engagement

Defining successful social media strategy is a hard objective – and it depends largely on what the definition of ‘successful’ is in the first place. For a large corporate organisation, for example, successful social media strategy might be centred around delivering social media content of professional interest to a highly-targeted audience of potential customers. For an individual, however, a successful social media strategy might be less well-defined and commercially-based, and more centred around providing emotional engagement via social media platforms highlighting their likes and dislikes across the Web. I’d suggest that a well-rounded social media strategy should incorporate professional interest and emotional engagement, not one or the other. Yes, it’s about business, but social media marketing should also be…well…social. My top tips for incorporating professional interest and emotional engagement into your social media strategy are: * Remember your pitch Let’s be honest, everybody has a pitch on social media. Whether it’s a corporate or an individual, promotion of self, products and services is an essential force behind social media engagement. The trick is to add value for your audience whilst still promoting. * Revisit your passions The plethora of sterile, anodyne social media content out there is staggering. But, unsurprisingly, nobody’s really taking note of it. Make sure you revisit your personal passions, the things which get you excited, and make you interesting to engage with online. * Review your profession If you’re using social media engagement to promote yourself, think about reviewing your profession, so you can clearly, consistently and cleverly also promote your expertise, knowledge and unique experience across social media platforms, too. * Revitalise your purpose We all get off days – days where we’d rather not be online, not be writing a blog or a tweet, or sharing ourselves online. Time to revitalise your purpose for utilising social media engagement at these times. Remember – your voice does count out there. * Renew your personality We all get lost at times online – the multiple influences being thrown at us, the demands made, the ‘like me, like me’ culture can be draining. It’s important to renew your unique personality, and to do so regularly. I find life offline always benefits my online life. * Relay your professionalism Just because communicating on social media might seem instant, easy, and without repercussions, it’s not an excuse to let your personal and professional standards slip. We all make mistakes. But making them online tends to leave a mark for a long time. Professional and personal The social media superstars I respect and admire mix and blend professional and personal – perfectly. Pure balance, precisely put.