Are you in the profession of using social networks to reach consumers via sharing information about businesses, including managing different audiences, different products and very different voices. Sounds like you are a social media manager.
As social media managers we strive to capture and share vital and interesting information about our clients – pair it down to 140 characters (or less), and then make it dynamic – often adding GIFs, JPGs, vids and pics. Trying to create a seamless experience between a followers interaction with a brand online, and that of a brick-and-mortar visitor is not easy and often requires we set up shop in our clients place of business –once or twice we even completed the corporate training/orientation of regular employees, which really helped us grasp the specific voice of the brand.
But every so often, we get the opportunity to interact with a networker that has specific requests – most of which require higher level approval than a social media managers, even though we often double as publicists and/or marketing directors, newer brands that make specific B2B requests via social media may not know this – which is evident with their initiation of a very professional matter via Facebook or Twitter.
In the next few days we’ll share a few tips on how to introduce your brand to social media managers – with the goal of creating lucrative partnerships via campaigns, events and product launches.
As always, follow along, tell us what you think – what we may have missed.
Interact with a plan – not a question
You’re a blogger or a new brand owner, or even an entertainer – and you’d love to enter into a partnership with a bigger, more popular or even a newer faster paced brand or initiative. And you’ve surmised that the only way you can get into contact with a representative is with the Message option of the Facebook page. How do you make this work? Tell them … tell them EVERYTHING!! No, reel it in, take a deep breath, get yourself together… this could be it. Get ready to get strategic.
Introduce yourself in full – don’t just jump into a request
Usually social media managers are not decision makers – they are the messengers, and even though they’ve been entrusted with communicating for [enter brand name here], they are notoriously low on any corporate totem pole. Your initial communication should be a very big description of who you are … not, what you want to do or how you want to interact with the brand, but WHO you are. That’s it.
Know what is acceptable to ask – and the information you need to give to back up the request
Now that you’ve gotten past the introduction and you’ve made the connection with how your particular purpose/service/product or brand is going to interact with [you know the drill]. And you’ve done your research – meaning, you have juxtaposition as to what [one more time] needs, and how you plan to fill that void. Your acceptable question should then fall under the lines of what corporate level or department would handle your request.
Give yourself time – requests and social media don’t move at the same pace
Social media is quick – from experience to post to reaction, everything happens very fast. But when attempting to interact with other brands don’t forget their corporate structure. Larger brands may have multi-levels of approval that one has to go through before embarking on a new venture. Give yourself time to get in contact with the right person, give you feedback on your idea and of course they are going to want make sure everything is perfect and beneficial for them … and, two weeks, is usually NOT enough time.
Research and get “researched ready”
Of course you’ve been scouring the internet for proper contact or brand marketing manager that could make your marketing partnership come to life. But, have you given thought to the “meantime”, both before and after you’ve made your pitch? What types of content have you distributed? Does it scream “I take my business, my image, my content super seriously!”, or does it just say “This is what I do … and um, here’s what I had for breakfast every day last week!”
Trust if you take 4 hours a day, researching a potential partner or gig – they’ve taken twice as long making sure any time spent with you will be a lucrative investment for their own infrastructure. Also trust that they may have way more strenuous guidelines as to what is acceptable and what is not.
Hopefully this helps! Let us know if you have any questions.
Oh, we also help with proposals and pitches – Reach out to us on our Contact Us page and lets bring your idea to life.
