If you’re building a social media strategy it can be hard to know where to start—or how to make it pay off in the long run.
In this episode of the Hootsuite podcast, we chat with digital marketing expert Amber Naslund about how to get the most out of your social strategy. Amber is the coauthor of best-selling business book The NOW Revolution, former SVP of marketing for Sysomos and advisor to Fortune 500 companies like AmEx, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods. She now works at Hootsuite as the senior director of industry leadership.
In this podcast you’ll learn:
- The trick to getting more from your social investment
- Social engagements tips for marketers
- What metrics you should be tracking
- Cools brands on social that you wouldn’t expect
Press play to hear the show in its entirety, or if you don’t have a set of headphones handy, read the transcription of our conversation below.
Q&A with digital marketing expert Amber Naslund
You’re an influencer and you’ve built your brand on social. What advice can you give to someone who is trying to build their brand?
I think having something to say is important, and then finding a platform to say it on. Back in the day I chose blogging, and I like to write so that’s what I did. And I didn’t set out to accumulate followers or an audience, I just really wanted to connect and help people who were dealing with the same kinds of problems that I was.
You need to have a perspective and be willing to get out there to engage with people and have conversations. It’s not so easy to do but it’s the one thing that drives everything else.
So having a clear purpose and message and putting out content that’s in line with that?
Yeah, and finding the problems or questions people have and looking for answers.
Have you found that there are some quick wins on social? Easy things that you can do that give you a good return?
No. And I think that’s the answer everybody hates. When people ask, “Are there quick things you can do to be successful?” And my answer is always, “No, it’s time, consistency, and repetition.” So having a consistent voice, being willing to create content, invest the time and doing it well. Not trying for shortcuts. You know, not trying to make something that goes viral or make something that’s super overly clever.
It really is about time and consistency, because having credibility in a space is a lot more about the long game than the short one.
What you’re saying is, marketers get stuck focusing on quick wins instead of looking at the long game?
Yeah, I think so. And I actually think looking for the quick wins can lead people into frustration because they’re chasing every new tool or platform, or they’re trying to emulate something that worked for somebody else and create an instant success. And there is no such thing.
I mean when I started, really people started noticing what I was doing back in 2004 or 2005, and then when I started to gain a following and an audience online, I’d already been blogging for ten years. So that ‘overnight’ success actually took me a decade.
What is your day to day like on social? How much time do you spend listening, engaging, curating, creating original content, posting original content? Does it fluctuate? Is it different or do you have a bit of a formula?
It’s actually changed quite a bit over the years, and today – I usually spend probably an hour or so in the morning over coffee. I use Flipboard a lot and go through topics that are of interest to me. I use Twitter a lot as a news feed. I have some of my searches set up in Hootsuite to watch for particular topics.
And I spend an hour of the day just kind of consuming that stuff, and then I spend probably…
