A GUIDE TO DIGITAL LITERACY.

6.2. The four main Pillars of Social Media marketing.

• Listening
• Influencing
• Networking
• Selling

1. Social Listening
   As with any marketing strategy, you need to start with your target audience.
   That’s why social media marketing starts with listening.
   This is key to creating a successful social strategy. Whether you’re paying attention or not, people are talking about you and
   reaching out to you on the social web. They’re sharing their experiences with
   your products. They’re talking about the things you’re saying or doing. They’re
   even asking you questions.

The 3-Step Social Customer Service Plan
For social media marketing to work, you need to make it human and authentic.
Even when you’re dealing with a complaint, your aim is to align yourself with
the person, de-escalate the situation, and provide a compassionate, human
touch.
Here’s the 3-step process for doing that:
1. Respond quickly. Social media moves quickly. Make sure you perform
triage within 12 hours and resolve issues within 24 hours.

2. Empathize. Make an empathetic statement as soon as possible: “I’m sorry
you ran into this,” “I know this is frustrating,” or “I can understand how
important this is to you.”
3. Move it to a private channel. If you can’t solve the issue in a sentence or
two, take it off public channels. Private messaging, email, or a phone call
allow you to talk in detail without the rest of your followers adding their two
cents to the discussion.
This approach demonstrates that you’re listening. It also allows you to express
compassion. And by moving the conversation to a private channel, you make
people feel as if you’re committed to giving them a real solution.

2. Social Influencing
At this stage, your aim is to lead and direct your followers’ opinions, attitudes,
and behaviors. And since you’ve been listening, it’s relatively easy. You already
know the trending topics and conversations taking place, so adding your
authority voice is the natural next step.
What are the signs that your influence is growing?
• You get more engagement – people retweeting or sharing your posts, and
people responding to your posts.
• Your traffic numbers increase – people click on your links.
• You develop a greater mindshare – people share their questions, thoughts,
and opinions with you, and they eagerly seek interaction with you.
• You become a recognized authority and a brand people watch.
Keep in mind, this stage of the success cycle is influenced by the social
listening you did in Stage 1. But the reality is that you’ll continue listening at
every stage. In fact, once the cycle is going, you’ll perform every stage every
day.

3. Social Networking
It’s at this stage of the social cycle that you connect with other influencers and
authorities and begin to move the needle.
Social networking is important for all businesses, whether you’re just getting
started, scaling, or expanding into new markets.
It may help to think of social networking as a live event—except your
interactions are online rather than face-to-face. After all, networking is
networking, no matter where (or how) it happens. And it can lead to deep and
lasting relationships, both with your followers and potential partners.