The Who What When Where and Why’s of Social Networking

by: DeAndre Upshaw, Online Community Manager, Agency Entourage

These days, everyone wants to go social. It’s everywhere – bakeries on Facebook, tattoo parlors on Twitter and credit unions on Foursquare. This is a great step in the right direction, but the big question is, what to post?

The world of social networking is vast and (on occasion) largely unexplored by brands. When deciding what kind of content to push to our client’s community, we try to answer these questions:

• Who? Who is the intended audience for this Facebook Post/Tweet/Update? What kind of content is your community looking for? Are they young? Older? Will this be relevant to them?
• What?  What is it that you’re trying to say? Equally as important is how you say it – brands using text speak ( i.e., c u l8r) come across not only as nonprofessional, but childish. When crafting a messaged for your community, concentrate on keeping it a succinct as possible – the majority of the people who read it will simply skim it and move on, so the shorter the message, the better probability it has of being read.
• When? Deciding what time of the day to post is a tricky thing – time it too early and people will be too busy in their workday to see it, time it too late and everyone will be disconnected. As a general rule I’ve found that right before and after lunch posts get high amounts of interaction. Do your own tests and see what times get the most response – you might be surprised!
• Where? Many credit unions attempt to have a  presence on every single social networking site, but unless you can commit to posting often on all of them, it doesn’t make sense to have your credit union spread so thin. Nothing is worse than a vacant social networking site! Find out which sites your community use, and cultivate a reputation for posting frequent posts that actually offer information for your members.
• Why? The biggest question you should ask before posting. Why are we doing this? Is it to raise member awareness about our services? Is it to promote the social aspect of our community? No matter what your reasons, make sure that everything you post serves a purpose. Even fluffy, “viral” content should serve to reinforce your credit union’s overall marketing strategy.

Answering each portion of this may be difficult, but giving your social media strategy a definite purpose will make it easier for you to cultivate and grow your community. Social media is more than just posting a few status updates per week – you get out what you put in.

DeAndre Upshaw is a strange, tall fellow who grew up forcing his friends and family to perform in short films he wrote, directed, and produced. They weren’t very good, but will one day serve as the backdrop to his E! True Hollywood Story. A graduate of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, DeAndre has spent the majority of his professional career helping people connect to others via social media. He currently manages online communities at Agency Entourage, a Digital Marketing firm in Dallas, Texas and is a contributing blogger for Currency Marketing. He hopes to be a Power Ranger when he grows up.  www.agencyentourage.com