Guest Article by: Joe Weigel, Owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing
To some, traditional media and social media mix about as well as oil and water. However, with a little planning, they can work together to improve the marketing efforts for your firm or company.
Here are nine ways that social media and traditional media can be integrated to increase the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
- Use traditional media as a social driver. Use print, radio, and other traditional media to promote your social media channels. Take it beyond simply including the Twitter and Facebook icons on your business card and flyers. Add some information as to why families should join the social conversation. Do you have special offers or helpful tips?
- Converse in the traditional space. Could a family’s complimentary comment on Facebook be your next advertising headline? Use these positive mentions and comments as testimonials on your website, print ads, radio commercials, etc. It will excite the customers that wrote the message (ensure you get their permission) and demonstrate your great brand in a peer-to-peer format.
- Use traditional media as the prize. Develop a contest on your social media channels. It could be photos, videos, posting a message on your Facebook wall, etc. Highlight the winner in a radio spot, print ad, or on your website. It will generate buzz on both the online and offline space.
- Continue the story on social media. Traditional media may reach the masses, but you’re often limited in your print space or your radio running time. Capture the audience with your story using traditional media, but continue it online. Maybe it’s a series of blog posts. Intrigue families to find out more by visiting the website. Encourage comments from anywhere by providing a hashtag specific to the printed article: To comment on this article, use hashtag #printstorytitle.
- Be open to feedback. With social media, communication is two-way. Your families can provide thoughts and opinions about your campaigns. Welcome them! Let traditional media spread your message while social media captures the feedback. Make sure to consider those opinions as you modify your campaign efforts.
- Redefine the landing page. Oftentimes your traditional media efforts use your website’s home page as the call-to-action. Much like point #1 above, that doesn’t have to be the case. If your campaign is about creating a conversation, welcoming feedback, encouraging the story to continue, etc., then Facebook, Twitter, or your blog might be a better landing page option than your website’s home page.
- Respond with traditional media. If you’re listening on the social web and you’re discovering some repeating complaints, engaging in social media is a great way to learn more and dispel any rumors. However, you can make your message louder by using traditional media. For instance, if you’re getting negative feedback on your facility, use traditional media to talk about it. How are you improving the facility? This approach shows that you’re taking these complaints seriously.
- Test with social media. If you are considering a new product, campaign idea, or service to share, tap into social media. Not sure what concept to use on that print ad – use online channels to gather feedback and insights from your families.
- Reward influencers. Every social network has influencers…those folks who share and engage on a regular basis. Identify your most valuable followers and reward them in some way. Create a campaign to mail a “care package” to the top influencers and invite them to share on social media the “unboxing”. Don’t believe it works – here’s a great example:
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Traditional and social media can not only co-exist, with some planning, they can even work together!
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Joe Weigel is the owner of Weigel Strategic Marketing, a communications firm focused on the funeral profession that delivers expertise and results across three interrelated marketing disciplines: strategy, branding and communications. You can visit his website at weigelstrategicmarketing.webs.com. He also can be reached at 317-608-8914 or joseph.weigel@gmail.com.
