Remember playing Monopoly as a kid?
As those colorful, fake dollars were counted out to me and placed in a neat in a pile, I felt rich and powerful.
However, I quickly realized that your money will slip away fast if you don’t come up with some sort of strategy.
The same holds true for social media marketing … while it seems like it’s fun and games, you can become the loser pretty quickly if you aren’t prepared to “play the game.”
So for a little fun and nostalgia, let’s chat about how Monopoly can help you be a social media success by:
- Properly managing your properties
- Understanding your Community (Chest)
- Getting out of Jail
Managing Your Properties
Just like in Monopoly, your properties can be very lucrative for you. They can also weigh you down.
Online it’s very similar … you have to choose your properties (aka: social channels) wisely.
On finding the right social media property …
- Find out who your customers are, and based on that …
- Find out where your customers are online
- Will my content be successful on this platform? (example: if you’re a very visual company, Instagram or Pinterest would be good options)
- Do I understand how the platform works?
- Do I have time to consistently use this platform?
- What costs are associated with this social media channel? (example: Facebook has admitted they’re a ‘pay to play’ site, so some sort of budget seems necessary for your content to be seen)
On finding the right social media tools to manage your properties …
Managing multiple social media networks can be a daunting task. That’s why the majority of social media managers utilize a social media management tool to access each of their accounts under one dashboard.
Some of the most-used and most talked about social media management tools are:
On the ongoing management of your social propoerties …
I’m still amazed when I see posts touting, “social media done right in 10 minute a day!”
Since social media is SOCIAL media, and since it happens online, and since it takes our small/local/niche area and makes it global, it’s just common sense that it would take more than ten mintues a day to do correctly.
Here are my personal tips:
- Pick one to three social platforms that work best for you
- Build a community by consistently posting valuable, relevant content
- Once you have a community in place, use conversation to learn how to better market and sell to them (collect psychographics)
- Collaborate with your community for UCG (user-generated content) so that you can tell your story from a consumer perspective and not just the brand perspective
- Use CTAs (calls to action) to entice conversions (could be sales or softer conversions like downloads, sign ups, or subscribers)
- Repeat daily (yes, that means weekends too!)
Additionally, a content calendar can make all the difference between succeeding and stalling out!
Understanding Your Community (Chest)
In the game of Monopoly, there are 16 Community Chest and 16 Chance cards you can come in contact with.
The majority of these cards are good (especially the Community cards) … much like your social media interactions will be.
The Chance cards can be a litle tricker and can have you paying out sums of money or even heading to jail.
I think this ties in nicely with examples of good communities. Often times I’ve heard of Community Managers telling stories where the community has supported the brand during a crisis.
Of course, you can bet that those brands put in a lot of work to ensure they had a loyal following online.
Here’s how you can do the same:
- Offer unique, valuable, relevant and jaw-droppingly good content (for free) on your pages or social networks
- Ask questions; entice conversation; engage
- Operate in real time (or as real time as possible – be available, don’t make fans wait to hear back from you)
- As Dave Kerpen from Likeable Media says, “SURPRISE AND DELIGHT”
- Reward your loyal and super fans
But alas, you can’t please everyone and evntually you might end up with a Chance Card or “Go Strait To Jail” card. What then …?
Getting Out Of Jail
We all mess up. That is what’s so brilliant about social media.
We’re not a bunch of robots out there making perfectly robotic posts. We’re people. And in that regard, we make spelling errors, we say the wrong thing, and we offend people.
These four tips can help you get bailed out of jail:
- Fess up when you mess up and admit your mistake(s)
- Say sorry (not “I apologize” – which in my opinion is like saying sorry I’m not sorry!) and MEAN IT
- Communication is key (and speed is the trusty sidekick): Have your key messages ready to be shared
- Review the situation afterwards and see how you could have done better
You can also read a more in-depth SteamFeed post on this topic called, “What’s Your Risk & Response Plan?”
Social Media Success: Winning The Game
While I’m not sure you can “win” with social media marketing (it’s an ongoing “game” – so perhaps you can win a campaign, but tomorrow is another day), I’m not sure you really ever win at Monopoly either.
Sure there’s always someone who walks away a winner, but if you were playing close attention, you’re likely to have picked up a strategy or a tactic for next time.
Both social media and Monopoly are about adapting your skills and continually improving your moves.
The real social media success comes in knowing that no matter what happened today, tomorrow is a new battle to be won.
Now if only there were fake, colorful dollars involved …
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