How to Use Slack for Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a necessary part of any brand’s promotional strategy at this point. While it might not make up the largest chunk of it (I recommend to all of my clients that they focus on content and save social from engagement beyond anything else), it still takes up a solid handful of the time and energy related to the task.

When you think of social platforms for marketing, your mind almost certainly goes to Twitter and Facebook. Maybe to Pinterest or Instagram if you are going with a very visual promotional style. But what about more obscure platforms, ones you don’t think of as traditionally social?

I am talking about Slack, and yes, it is the latest social media marketing sweetheart.

What Is Slack?

Slack started as an integrated communication platform for teams. It evolved into a project management platform with a highly social bent, using hashtags and chat groups to give team leads the power to keep track of multiple dialogues, and reach the people that needed to be reached. Now, it is becoming a full blown social media network that is hitting it big with the modern day startup elite and technorati.

According to this study done on Slack, three million people use Slack as of March 2016, 31% of which are paid accounts. More than 60,000 teams have made a base there, using it for everything from project management and task setting, to social and professional chatting. Networks have been formed that allow professionals to meet up and share expertise, or even host group chats that act like tutorials or webinars.

The use of Slack as a social media platform is new, but it is a developing feature made primarily through the customization of its users. That is what makes this such a fascinating product. It is open enough to let users sandbox their own experience. No wonder it is becoming so popular, so fast.

So, how can you make Slack your social media marketing ace up your sleeve?

Connect Hootsuite and Slack

Hootsuite’s pro version has dozens of apps that allow you to integrate other services. Slack is one of them. You can connect the two and start utilizing the better communication tools it provides, along with your whole marketing team.

You can also send a social post from Hootsuite’s dashboard to a Slack channel. You just select Slack instead of Twitter or Facebook. It is one of the coolest third party app features available.

Twitter Integration and Monitoring

Speaking of Twitter, you can connect your Twitter feed to your Slack channel. I love doing this, because it gives the whole team access to what is being said about the brand, with live updates, and the ability to discuss specific posts.

Before I linked up my Twitter account, I used to send a screenshot and link through email to my team members, or else tag them in a Hootsuite task. Both were clunky and cumbersome, and meant I had to tag or email each needed member of the team, one by one.

This makes the process ten million times easier. I would suggest creating a Slack channel specifically for your Twitter account, and then inviting team members you want to monitor it. That will keep it from the rest of the conversation, and allow each member to individually select their notification settings for that channel.

Power up Your Community

Slack is awesome for building up community and increasing engagement. For example, WordPress.org uses Slack for real-time communication and community building. And you can too!

Slack can be easily integrated with your WordPress blog using this plugin (here’s how to install it). The plugin has a few cool extensions too allowing you to integrate Slack into WooCommerce, Gravity Forms, etc.

Get The Latest and Greatest Content In Your Industry

For those who don’t know it, Nuzzel is a content aggregation app that sends notifications of interesting industry publications from your friends feeds on Facebook and Twitter. It gathers the best of the best, based on your interests and how it has been received socially. It is a super quick way of getting updates and the latest industry news.

Slack has an integration with Nuzzel that will allow you to create a channel for this feed. So you can get updates right there in Slack where everyone can see, read, and enjoy.

When you use it in Slack, you can also put notes, make plans for content and social sharing, and engage with your team on each individual publication. So not only is it great for social media marketing but content marketing, as well. Plus, it makes sure everyone is up to speed.

Keep Your Finger On The Pulse

To be successful in social media, you have to always know what is hot, what is trending, and what trend can be exploited realistically by your brand. Keeping up with that is hard as a single person. With a team, it gets much easier.

You can make sure you never miss anything, no matter what that something is, if you all keep an eye out. Then you can update the second you become aware of a potential. You will also be able to monitor and share brand mentions, customer service complaints, competitor updates, ect.

Get Some Team Feedback

You might not be doing things as well as you could be. Who better to let you know than your team? Feedback is critical, and the people you work with on a project are going to be an irreplaceable resource for making positive changes to your campaigns, your product, and even the way you are running things on your end.

Open Agora has a code that allows you to create polls that can be voted on in channels by your team. I personally use these polls for all of my channels, addressing different issues and asking for feedback, opinions, and ideas. I even use it for finding the time to schedule meetings, as I hate asking everyone one by one, only to find out someone can’t make it.

Try Slack, Seriously!

I love this tool. I would put it up there with Cyfe and Trello as one of the best management platforms to ever hit the web. If you are looking for a new way to integrate your team projects with social media marketing, it is a must have.