It is now time for Rae Evans to take the hotseat in our popular Q&A series! Chatting to Solutionize Global’s fantastic social media whizz, we discussed how online comms should be built around empathy and why brands have to tap into the powers of Employee Advocacy. Check out her brilliant insight here…
Summarise your role and what Solutionize Global stands for
I am the senior marketing and sales executive at Solutionize Global a technology solutions and services provider. I manage the team’s social media channels, along with assisting our chief marketing officer with marketing campaigns, strategies, and automation to develop new business, engage employees and maintain consumer satisfaction.
I have a real passion for social media and how it is a necessity for businesses to have – I enjoy using it to be creative, authentic, and innovative. At Solutionize Global we focus on people, values, and products with a tagline of ‘Expect Outstanding’, so everything in what we deliver – from our services to people and the culture – has to embody our core values.
How do you best utilise social media and social selling techniques for SG?
Social media is an integral piece of our communication and sales strategy. We utilise social selling techniques by delivering an online experience for customers and prospects by promoting services and products, displaying culture and core values, and sharing insightful technology expertise.
We understand that engagement through relevant and consistent content can further benefit our relationship with our audience from increasing the number of leads to the expansion of traffic to our website, improved conversion rate and shorter sales cycles. We build and maintain relationships through social media, which has created our own community.
Social media is an influential tool for any marketing strategy, regardless of the industry, and that mainly comes down to the fact that businesses can interact and engage with their customers in a way that is otherwise impossible.
What do you like/dislike the most about social media?
Posting effective organic content for free – and this opens up many opportunities to connect with valuable leads and raise brand awareness. By 2021, Statista predicts over three billion people will be using social media in one form or another, just showing how valuable social media can be for exposure.
A disadvantage is that it is a long-term commitment, so you do not necessarily see immediate results. This can sometimes be very disheartening for businesses but as long as they understand that it takes time to build an audience and are prepared to extensively research the target market – to make sure content is relevant – it is worth being patient.
My advice to businesses looking to invest more in social media, is to get creative and be agile – test new audiences, products, and offerings. It is all about trial and error because an organisation will never truly know if a campaign is going to be successful until it is launched. The key is to analyse the engagement, see what the audience likes and act on those responses.
How important is content for the lead generation that SG does?
The quality of content is paramount for lead generation – it must be consistent and valuable to attract and encourage customers to trust and utilise Solutionize Global. A total of 15% of our current website traffic comes from our promotional social channels, and 87.5% of that traffic is via Linkedin.
Social media is a simple, innovative tool that plays a major role in popularising our business. It enables us to become known to potential leads and is an effective instrument when promoting thought leadership and advertising.
Are you a fan of Employee Advocacy? If so, how do you use it in SG?
I am a big fan of Employee Advocacy, especially through social media channels, as I feel it generates exposure and raises awareness of our offerings. We encourage all our employees at Solutonize Global to like, share and comment on our content and it does significantly improve our reach. I was reading an article recently by Sprout Social which estimated that Employee Advocacy leads are seven times more likely to close than other forms of leads – so it just goes to show how beneficial it is.
Our employees embody the ethos of our company and we consider them as brand ambassadors – they represent our true core values and how we ‘Expect Outstanding’. As a people-focused organisation, it is important that both our customers and employees are engaged in social activity and we frequently involve them in our content.
Who are you a big fan of on social media? And why do you like what they post?
Dell Technologies’ social media activity. Its engagement is high, and the team always shares a diverse range of content to showcase creativity, innovation, and agility. Dell is consistent in how it adapts to current situations and although messaging changes slightly, the organisation always stays true to its brand voice.
How do you think social media has evolved – and what do you expect for 2020?
Social media has evolved with technology – it can be logged into from anywhere and is accessible to all. I think a big change will be how enterprises communicate and utilise personalisation. According to the 2018 Sprout Social Index, 49% consumers want posts that inspire because people act on emotional responses. So now is the time for firms to understand customers and their online behaviours.
Organisations must not only get consumers to buy into their products and services, but the brand too. The audience wants to see and feel the effects that an investment has had and, in turn, feel better understood and connected.
It is about communicating the right message – and leading with empathy and compassion – as well as being on trend and able to adapt. I think we will also see an increase in paid ads because businesses want to see immediate social activity success. They want to be seen and, most importantly, be heard.
Find out more about Solutionize Global HERE.
Want to be a guest on our upcoming ‘SoAmpli Meets’ features? Get in touch with Hayley Paterson at: hayley@scribapr.com
