Unsure of your brand's social media strategy? Here's a step-by-step guide to navigating today's complex social media landscape.

1. THE SOCIAL
IMPERATIVE
2014 Social Media Marketing
Best Practices

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WHAT IS THE
SOCIAL
IMPERATIVE?

3. 3
According to Eloqua, “a reported 78%
of companies now have a dedicated
social team.”
As social media platforms and tools
continue to emerge, we can only
expect that number to grow in 2014.

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STEPS TO SUCCESS
 Know which popular and emerging
platforms make sense for your brand, so
time (and money) isn’t wasted on
ineffectual efforts
 Implement a social strategy, instead
of executing a series of one off
promotional tactics
 Integrate with other marketing efforts
 Be active, with consistent involvement in
social media

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Emotional Currency can
be transactional
and/or transformative
It can come from creating an emotional
connection based on a shared experience,
compelling visual language, elevating copy
or simple cues from the past
It’s about being on the
inside of consumer behavior, their beliefs
and rituals
…and create an emotional
connection with consumers based
on shared experience, compelling
imagery, elevating copy or simple
social cues.

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WHAT CAN BE
GAINED?

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A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING
Approaching social media analytically can give
brands valuable intelligence to make strategic
marketing and branding decisions.
Social media can provide valuable insight into:
 Consumer behavior
 Industry trends
 Competitor activities
 Product buzz
 Employee/stakeholder insights
 Consumer sentiment

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THE ROI OF
SOCIAL MEDIA
In addition to leveraging the intelligence gained
from analyzing buzz, social media can:
 Drive brand awareness
 Generate leads
 Drive sales
 Enhance customer service
 Turn consumers into brand advocates

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SOCIAL & SEO
Search engines are putting increasing weight
on social connectivity in search:
 Content is king for SEO and social media is
the ultimate content amplifier
 Google’s “Search Plus Your World” giving
search results based on Google+
connections
 Authorship through Google+ is a great way
to increase click through rate and establish
authority for your brand
Social media is changing the way search
results are delivered and radically altering
SEO best practices.

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ADOPTING
THE
IMPERATIVE

11. START IN THE DEEP END
We take a deep dive into conversations
happening around your brand and industry,
including:
 Sentiment: What people are saying –both
positive and negative.
 Trends: What are the topics of conversation
in which your brand name appears?
 Competitive Analysis: How does your buzz
stack up against competitors?
 Platforms: Are your constituents on
Pinterest, Facebook, The Fancy or Twitter?
11

12. UNLOCKING KEY
PLATFORMS
Through analysis comes insight. Embrace the
spaces and places where your consumers and
influencers spend their time.
 Pinterest is hot among mothers in their 30’s
from rural states
 The Fancy has a user base that is 50%
European, 50% American and an average
income of 100K+
 The top profession among Google+ users is
software engineer
Finding the right space and having a great
platform-appropriate strategy are key to
success in social.
12

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COMPELLING CONTENT
Create brand-focused, visual social media
content that consumers engages consumers
and encourages sharing:
 Cross-Platform Image Driven Messaging
Campaigns
 Videos
 Quizzes/Polls
 Infographics
 Slideshows
 Custom Facebook applications

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INSIDE THE BUBBLE
Strategy doesn’t stop at creating engaging
content. Some of the top reasons people
connect with brands via social media are to:
 Be first to hear about great deals
 Participate in exclusive experiences (like
great apps or compelling promotions)
 Grab coupons to save money

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PAID MEDIA
Once an option, paid media is now a necessary
tactic for brands to connect with consumers on
social media. Precisely targeted, concise
messaging allows brands to tap into new
audiences and see continued growth.
Target your audience with:
 Facebook ads
 Promoted videos on YouTube
 LinkedIn ads
 Promoted tweets and hashtags on Twitter

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INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS
Social media can help brands connect and
develop relationships with key influencers in
their industry. In turn, these influencers can
become powerful brand advocates that promote
your company or product to their own network of
followers.

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24/7 MONITORING
Using the right tools, social media accounts
can be monitored 24 hours a day, ensuring
content posted by users is brand safe and
customer service inquiries are dealt with
quickly.

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SOCIAL MEDIA
REPORTING
Creating benchmarks and generating regular reports
helps mark progress towards social media goals:
 Social Traffic: How much is being said collectively
through various social channels
 Platform Insights: Report and analysis covering
Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter views, posts,
interactions, conversions
 Share of Voice: How much chatter within the
industry is focused on your brand
 Sentiment: The volume of positive versus negative
comments and posts
 Competition: Use all of the above data points to
compare against the competition
 Analysis & Recommendations: We’ll deliver
actionable insights and ideas to maximize campaign
impact

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Keep your “eyes on the
enterprise” in how you
think about social.
Be nimble, responsive
and accountable.

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SERVICES
Website Design
& Development
Mobile Apps/
Mobile Web
Social Media
Search Marketing
Targeted Email
ABOUT
FLIGHTPATH
Since 1994, Flightpath has
been helping organizations
to create, connect or use
digital channels to maximize
potential and opportunities.

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