The five C's is essentially a checklist that empowers brands to utilize social media as a powerful marketing tool– referring to critical components such as Coordinates, Channels, Content, Connections, and Corrections.
These elements are interconnected to create a cohesive social media presence for businesses. The five C's help brands maintain a social presence that is organized and has collaborative goals, succinct posting structures for each platform, quality guidelines, error correction protocols and prioritizes nurturing connections.
So, let's break them down.
Coordinates
Coordinates are the launching pad for any company's social media campaign. Coordinates are different social media objectives that complement one another and are linked to overarching company objectives.
Organizations all too often pursue goals in isolation, failing to consider how the goals connect and reinforce one another.
Phil Clampitt, the John Blair Endowed Chair of Communication at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, detailed the idea of "coordinates" using an example involving two business goals of the Menasha Corporation that pertained to employee health care.
The first goal was to increase employee satisfaction and appreciation of their healthcare plans. The second goal was to decrease the organization's health care costs.
“You might ask, ‘Aren’t these incompatible?” They may be, but when the company added a third goal– ‘to create an exclusive health care concierge service that all employees can call upon to help them navigate the healthcare system’– they were all in sync,” Clampit explained.
“The concierge service helps employees navigate the complexities of the health care system while helping the company better manage costs. So, the company had three goals pertaining to benefits that were aligned with one another and were in sync. And, every goal had been transformed into a coordinate.”
Channels
Major social media networks include platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. These platforms– which are also considered channels– structure communication and connection for consumer-to-brand relationships.
These platforms can also be used for advertising purposes, promotional giveaways, and to attract viewers to your brand's website.
Content
The third C of social media is content. Quality content is one of the most important aspects of social media marketing. As a brand, it is important to produce high-quality media and put lots of effort into what is being displayed to viewers online.
Some things to ensure when posting high-quality content include:
Making sure images and videos are not pixelated or blurry.
Displaying posts that can be properly viewed on all types of devices.
Creating posts that fit the platform they are being posted on.
Researching what type of content will resonate with your target marketing demographic best.
For instance, you wouldn't post a flat, static image on TikTok; meanwhile, you would not really post videos on LinkedIn. These kinds of ideas are closely related to philosopher Marshall McLuhan's central theory, “the medium is the message."
In other words, the medium through which content is delivered has a significant impact on how it is perceived. We certainly see this with the Internet now, in terms of what we view on social media.
Connections
Social media connections enable us to form relationships that can improve business in all aspects, such as reaching out to influencers or partnering with other brands. It is a great way to share information on upcoming events, launches, deals, and more.
But, social media connections fall under two categories– internal and external.
Internal connections refer to those made between different social media platforms and departments. These types of connections focus on ways to voice complaints shared on social media to either customer service or the brand’s PR department.
On the other hand, external connections focus on how well organizations are networking with outside audiences. This may require businesses to use different social media platforms to connect with different audiences.
For instance, Facebook's primary audience ranges from the ages of 25 to 34. This differs from Instagram, which is the preferred platform for people ages 16 to 24. Similarly, Tik Tok has a main audience of viewers aged 18 to 24.
Corrections
An often overlooked aspect of social media strategizing is error corrections.
When posting tweets and generating captions, it is inevitable to stumble upon minuscule errors. However, in order to fix these mistakes and prevent them from continuously occurring, it is important to develop appropriate correction protocols.
Effective correction protocols can ensure that mistakes are located and corrected in a timely, accurate, and effective manner.