3 Things to Consider For Your Social Media Strategy

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Are You Using the Veruca Salt Approach?

If you’ve read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” or have seen the film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” you can probably hear Veruca Salt’s famous line, “But Daddy, I want it NOW!”

Veruca Salt is the spoiled girl who wins a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. She wants everything and she wants it NOW.

Many companies want to take the Veruca Salt approach when it comes to their social media and digital marketing.

“We need 10,000 likes NOW”

“I should see ROI on this in a week, right?”

“How soon can we get up to 1000 Twitter followers?”

Here are three reasons why the Veruca Salt approach doesn’t work:

#1 More likes doesn’t mean fan engagement

Yes it’s awesome to have a lot of people liking your page. However, the more important numbers to look at on your Facebook page are “number of people talking about this” and, especially if you’re a brick and mortar store, “How many people were here.”

The more people talking about you means that fans are sharing your content and mentioning you in their social media networks. This gives you much more exposure and will lead to a larger fan base.

When people “check in” to your store, it shows their friends, and your fans, that there is a compelling reason to visit your store. Others will want to see what the buzz is all about, and will want to visit your website to learn more- which can ultimately lead them to physically visiting your store.

#2 More numbers doesn’t mean increased revenues

Just because thousands of people like your page doesn’t automatically mean you can increase your sales. It’s up to you and the marketing agency you work with to craft a compelling content strategy to keep your fans interested and engaged. Creative campaigns aligned with an overall strategy that’s correct for your company will maintain fan engagement and drive traffic to the website or store where they will make purchases. Getting fans to like your page is only a first step. Once you get fans to like your page, you have to keep them there with content they want to see and share.

When calculating your ROI on social media, using a lead management system like Hatch shows you where your leads are coming from, helps you delegate leads to your sales team, and helps you track your ROI.

#3 The “Follow Me and I’ll Follow You” Trick

Just because you follow someone on Twitter does not mean they have to follow you. People will follow you because you post dynamic, engaging and informative content. Your Twitter is a perfect place to announce offers, preview products, and recognize customers. These suggestions are part of a Twitter strategy that rewards engaged followers and does not solicit to followers who may not be part of your target market.

Just as the above is true, if someone follows you, this does not mean you have to follow them. If their content is not relevant to what you’re interested in, then it doesn’t benefit you to follow them.

Charlie Bucket, Our Hero

When it comes to social media and digital marketing, the Veruca Salt approach may give you short-term likes and followers, but ultimately, fans will declare you a “bad nut.”

The winning strategy is the Charlie Bucket strategy: learn all you can, ask questions, be nice to your competitors, and keep a positive attitude. Charlie’s approach is long-term, but in the end, he won the factory and the hearts and loyalty of millions.

Lori Johnson (@BPLoriJ) is Branding Personality’s Customer Experience Manager. She admires Willy Wonka’s business acumen and sense of humor.