Running a social media campaign has become a critical part in the success of any company. In fact, in the 21st century, almost every brand has the assurance of finding its customers on social media networks. However, reaching them without a well-planned social media marketing strategy is not easy.
Many popular sites keep changing their algorithms making it tough for marketers to feature in the news feed of their audience. For this, there is need to for successful campaigns in order to reach your target. In this write-up, we explore the various ways a beginner can maximize their marketing on social media successfully.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing strategy is the process of gaining online traffic through social media sites. Programs used center on creating content that encourages readers to share with their networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, among others. This is how a corporate message is spread from one user to another making a company or brand to appear credible to third party sources. This form of marketing is steered by word-of-mouth.
It means that it is more of an earned media and not a paid media given that social media is a platform easily accessible with internet access in any part of the world. Increased marketing through social media has been seen to foster brand awareness, improve customer service and a company’s profits. More so, many organizations view this as an affordable platform to implement their marketing campaigns. Ideally, social media marketing is currently a big deal, and it gives a company the opportunity to interact freely with its audience and build lasting business relationships.
Who Uses Social Media Marketing?
The work of a marketing department in any company is to keep track of new ways to market their company and connect with prospective consumers. For the last few years, social media has been the new mantra for various brands and marketers are taking note of the different marketing opportunities implementing new social initiatives at a higher rate. For businesses, social media represents an opportunity to market that transcends the traditional middleman connecting companies directly to their client base.
This is why marketers from giant companies to those from a local ice cream shop are exploring the marketing initiatives. Marketers are using this initiative to solve customer issues quickly and thoroughly. In fact, it is the only platform that encourages accountability and fool proof communication between consumers and sellers. A social media marketing strategy allows marketers to share their expertise and knowledge, engage prospects through customer evangelism, and tap into the wisdom of consumers. More so, a company can cut down on staff time reducing costs and also boost the probability of revenue generation.
Ways in Which Social Media Marketing Can Help your Business
Social media marketing strategy should be used as a methodical and strategic process of establishing a company’s reputation and influence within a community of potential consumers. Here is what a marketer should do to achieve this:
- Open a company page on social sites.
- Post updates or topics of interest on the sites.
- Build network through the sites.
- Monitor feedback.
- Maintain a blog.
- Tweet about topics of interest such as a new product.
- Ensure Twitter is used as a service channel.
This form of marketing has been known to provide marketers with a window to present their products and listen to customer grievances and comments. Marketers are also able to identify peer groups that end up becoming brand advertisers promoting organic growth and increasing the company’s search engine rankings. What’s more, all of this marketing is done at nearly zero costs since most social networks are free. The truth is that social media is diverse and can be used in any suitable way that meets the interest and needs of a company. When used correctly, social media marketing strategy creates repeat buyers and customer loyalty.
4 Tips for Strategic Social Media Marketing
1. Create a Plan for all Social Media Channels
Do not make the mistake of blindly jumping into social media marketing without a solid plan. If you do not know the sites that feature your target audience or simply you don’t know why you are embracing social media marketing strategy, you need to get to the reset button. Have a proper strategy in writing where all members of the marketing department can refer to. For a start, keep your active sites to three or less, not forgetting to embrace the most prominent industry influencers including Twitter and Facebook.
2. Embrace consistency
One tweet a day won’t help you reach your target audience. Outline how often you should publish on either channel, the type of content to publish and develop a social media publishing schedule. It would be pointless to post content if none of your audience sees it.
3. Send the right message to various platforms
Every site serves a different purpose and tends to attract a particular audience. Understanding the right one for your business can boost your marketing efforts and help you reach your target quickly. Create industry related content; give tips on how to use your product, keep your audience informed by creating infographics, and remember to research on new trends in your industry.
4. Stick to your business objectives
Have realistic goals before getting to any social media marketing strategy so you can properly guide your clients through the marketing funnel smoothly. Ensure you have a clear CTA to allow users understand what they are expected to do.
5. Keep watch on your competitors
Do you notice one of your competitors acting king on social media? They could be getting dozens of retweets or hundreds of likes on Instagram and Facebook while you get little or no response. When that is the case, it is time to analyze what they are doing that you are not. What kind of content do they post? Who do they follow? How often and at what time do they post? What are their most popular posts? This should give you an idea of where they might be getting their social media success. Incorporate some of the strategies used in your campaign and measure results.
There are many social media platforms today, and whichever you choose can have a lasting impact on your business and promotion. Are there any social media sites you love to follow? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Images from pixabay.com.