Social Media Marketing is a peace of the big puzzle of digital marketing. As the name suggests, social media marketing is all about using social media platforms to promote your business or product. It’s a broad term that can encompass anything from paid ads on Facebook or Twitter, to creating informative blog posts or how-to videos on YouTube. The beauty of social media marketing is that there are so many ways to approach it. it s about 17 Points to explain how to commence correctly.
Why Your Small Business Needs Social Media Marketing?
Choose the social networks that will work best for you.
Set goals and evaluate them thoroughly.
Understand What are the 5 C's of social media?
What should be considered before setting up a social media marketing?
What 3 factors should you consider when choosing your social media network?
Conduct an audit to help in formulating your content strategy.
Organizing your social media content in advance on calendar.
Re-purpose content across social media.
Give your brand a personal touch and evoke emotion.
Avoid excessive self-promotion, instead focus on developing relationships and delivering value.
It is important to be consistent in posting content of a high quality.
What types of posts generate the most engagement?
Automation doesn't need to be considered negative; it can have many positive benefits.
Social media marketing is free but Try out paid advertisements to see the results.
Measure performance is a great way to track progress with Google Analytics and other tools
Be patient, as slow and steady progress will lead to success. Ignore scams that promise quick results with little effort.
Today's business owners are often urged to have a presence on social media due to peer pressure, success stories in the media and general hype. Although it is possible for a business to do well without utilizing social networking, they would be missing out on many opportunities to build and grow. One of the biggest mistakes that brands make is jumping into social media marketing with no real plan; hoping it will lead them to fortune. This unplanned approach usually leads to unrealistic goal-setting, poor results, wasted time and ultimately discourages them from continuing with this form of marketing. To avoid this outcome and give yourself the best chance at succeeding in your efforts, it is important that you properly plan ahead before starting out with social media marketing. - By the end of this blog, you will be well-equipped to understand the key considerations for effective social media marketing and how to take your efforts in a logical, deliberate direction.
Why Your Small Business Needs Social Media Marketing?
In the past 15 years, social media marketing has become an essential tool used by businesses of all sizes. Research found that 85% of adults living in North America were using social networking sites and this included 82% of those aged between 30-49 and 90% of 18-29 year olds. Furthermore, a survey from Social Media said that setting aside 6 hours per week to work on their social media strategy led to increased exposure for their business. If you are not utilizing your own personal plan or if it is not having its desired effect then now is the time to update your social media strategy. This article will explain how to understand popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest effectively when marketing your small business.
Successful social media marketing is all about developing strong, long-lasting relationships with customers and professional contacts. Sharing content that clients will want to share with their family, friends and colleagues helps bring in loyal customers and brand ambassadors who act as advocates for your business. This type of two-way communication is now a global expectation from consumers when investing time and money into companies or brands. Although direct selling still has its merits, it isn't the primary focus when considering a successful social media strategy.
We hope that the following advice is beneficial to you, regardless of whether you are just starting your business or if you are an experienced user seeking additional expert tips to help grow your small business.
Choose the social networks that will work best for you.
If you don't have the resources of a large company, it's better to focus on one or two "core" social networks first. Mediocre performance across five or six platforms is worse than excellence in two; while social media is (mostly) free, your time isn't. Depending on the type of business you own, not every platform will be suitable for marketing and reaching your target audience - research each network to find out where you'll get the best response. Consider which sites are already frequented by those who might be interested in what you're offering, or look into customer personas and demographics to make an informed decision about where to begin.
Joining Facebook and Twitter is often a given for brands, due to their large size and influence. But there are other "niche" communities with hundreds of millions of users - such as Pinterest, Instagram, or LinkedIn - that may offer better opportunities for impact. Once will explain the advantage of each platform. Start off by experimenting with two networks where you can invest some significant time and track your progress; then either build on these successes or steadily begin exploring other platforms which might bring additional (or even greater) success.
Set goals and evaluate them thoroughly.
Before you begin creating content for social media, it is beneficial to define the key themes and overall objectives of your plan. Doing this will help structure how you approach using social media as a major part of your marketing efforts. I recommend using the SMART method when forming achievable goals for social media. Here is an explanation that may be useful:
Be Specific:
Specify your desired outcome: do you intend to raise awareness of your brand, boost sales figures, enhance the customer service experience, or foster loyalty?
Think Measurable:
How will you be able to determine that your goal has been accomplished? What analytics instruments will you employ to monitor your advancement?
When you are just beginning, make sure your goal is feasible; it's best to avoid setting the bar too high and potentially becoming discouraged if you don't achieve what you set out to. Gaining proficiency with all of this (especially if it's your initial foray into social media marketing) requires a while.
Always Relevant:
Do the objectives of your goal match up with the mission, vision and values of your company?
Time Specific:
By when do you want to have achieved your goal of increasing website traffic by 10%? To ensure that your marketing efforts are concentrated, focus on one major goal at a time. For example, "I am aiming to boost website traffic by 10% within the next two months".
As a flower shop owner, you should strive to sell 5 bouquets per day by using social media as an aid. After a suitable amount of time (e.g., several months), assess your progress with analytics tools, social insights (likes, followers and comments), and other metrics in order to track and measure your activity - further information can be found on these soon.
Understand What are the 5 C's of social media?
The 5 C's of social media are content, context, connection, community and conversation.
Content is the information that you share on social media, such as blog posts, images, videos and infographics. Context is the way that you share this content, such as through a tweet, Facebook post or LinkedIn update. Connection refers to the relationships that you build with other users on social media. Community is the group of people who you interact with on social media, such as your followers or fans. Conversation is the two-way dialogue that takes place between you and other users on social media
What should be considered before setting up a social media marketing?
Before setting up a social media marketing campaign, you should consider your goals and objectives, who your target audience is, what platforms they are using and what content you will share. You should also set up some metrics to measure your success, such as Reach (the number of people who see your content), Engagement (the number of interactions with your content) and Conversion (the number of people who take a desired action after seeing your content)
What 3 factors should you consider when choosing your social media network?
The three main factors to consider when choosing your social media platform are: who your target audience is, what kind of content you will be sharing and what your goals and objectives are.
Conduct an audit to help in formulating your content strategy.
Conducting an audit is a great way to discover the type of social media content that your audience will respond to. Think about what issues you can help them resolve, answer their inquiries, and decide on the kind of material they like (e.g., text, photo, graphics or video) as well as when they are most active on social media. Software such as SEM Rush and TrueSocial Metrics offer detailed analysis if you choose to invest in them; however it's also possible to get an idea without spending money - check out the websites and profiles of your competitors for clues!
Take notes on the frequency of blog posts and social media updates from your rivals. Also, pay attention to which type of content gets the most likes, comments, and shares. See how much of this content is unique compared to what is shared from other sources. Notice topics covered as well as tone used in their posts. Use this data to mirror successful types of content in your own strategy while also identifying gaps where you can do better than them.
Organizing your social media content in advance on calendar.
One of the most challenging tasks for small business and brands on social media is to consistently create and post high quality content for their fans. Not updating online can be seen as a sign that your company may be closing down, even if this isn't the case. Keeping up with regular posts will help to increase fan engagement, build stronger relationships with followers and ensure they keep coming back for more. To make sure you don't end up posting sub-par stuff just because you have to publish something, an effective way forward is creating a social media content calendar. This tool allows you to plan ahead - weeks or months in advance - giving you the time needed to craft seasonal themes into your updates. In addition to preparing for major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can also plan ahead for smaller celebrations such as Valentine's Day. Taking a step back from daily postings and reviewing your social media content calendar regularly will help solidify your overall strategy. Although occasional spontaneous posts are beneficial, it is recommended to use a content calendar as the foundation of the strategy.Tools such as Radaar try it here for scheduling posts. One easy way to create this kind of structured approach (which serves as an excellent resource in avoiding feeling overwhelmed) is by assigning specific topics or themes to each day - e.g., post new blog on Monday; ask question on Tuesday; infographic on Wednesday; quote on Thursday etc.
Re-purpose content across social media
It is essential to recognize that something which may be distributed as one piece of content in the real world (for example, a press release) can be promoted through multiple pieces of content on social media. For example, creating a blog post about it, tweeting it, making a video, sharing it on Facebook and transforming it into an infographic for Pinterest are all great ways to maximize your content production when you have limited time or resources.
Give your brand a personal touch and evoke emotion.
People use social media to connect with others, so lower your barriers and show the real you behind your business' logo. Be transparent, open and authentic in all communication - but be mindful of crossing the line between genuine posts about your brand and personal topics. Establish a unique voice by showing a sense of humor, using everyday language etc. Genuinely engaging customers will make them more likely to share content or support you financially when it comes time to buy. Showcasing true values and personality can set you apart from competitors rather than trying to manipulate fans into buying products or services.
Including people in visual content is a great way to make an emotional connection with customers. Studies show that images of humans (as opposed to inanimate objects) can increase conversion rates; even if the product you are selling isn't tangible, such as data or financial services, it is still beneficial to incorporate people and human faces into some of your images - either yourself, your customers, or stock photos. Emoticons are also a powerful addition when used alongside text
Avoid excessive self-promotion, instead focus on developing relationships and delivering value.
Most individuals who use social media do not go on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to be advertised to; they utilize the networks primarily for connecting with family, friends and being entertained. People may "like" or "follow" a company without much thought (think of how many you have done so), but only highly dedicated followers will stay engaged in all your posts. It's imperative that you make it seem as if having your business is something that should be an integral part of their lives, instead of just expecting people to favor you - build trusting collaborations, show friendliness, share great content and help customers with issues. Of course periodic promotional posts are important too...if the rest of your approach has been successful then followers won't mind them either!
Change your mindset from asking "what can we sell you?" to "what can we do to help you?". Your fans will be wondering what's in it for them when considering following your brand on social media. Competition is high and organic reach is low, so the content you post needs to emotionally engage people. Consider using humour, awe, anger or even narcissism as triggers; these are powerful emotions that make individuals look good to their peers on social media when they share.
Once you get into a rhythm, take some time to look back on the last ten of your social media posts and think about whether they're providing value or having an impact. Audiences are becoming more savvy, so any content that is low quality or too promotional won't be noticed. If this is true for you, it might be worth changing up your plan in order to reach them better. Creating a positive image of your brand on social media is essential to engage with followers and build trust. Becoming an expected part of their experience can encourage them in the right direction, rather than strictly pushing them towards sales. Doing this will let people see that you value more than just financial gain and ultimately result in increased revenue over time.
It is important to be consistent in posting content of a high quality.
It's crucial to maintain an active presence on social media channels. A good target is one to three updates a day, however at the very least you should post regularly, aiming for a couple of posts per week. This will help ensure your content remains visible in the news feeds of those who are most likely to engage with it. For instance, Facebook sees regular activity from the vast majority of brands; therefore consistency is key if you want your content to be seen.
On average, when someone visits their Facebook News Feed they can be shown up to 1,500 posts generated by a complex algorithm. This makes it difficult for users as around half don't visit the site daily and those that do only spend approximately 30 - 45 minutes browsing. Consequently, brands have to put in effort to maximize free organic reach from their Facebook activity without paid promotion; making it almost impossible for all fans to see each post. While there is still potential on this social media platform, it's no longer as straightforward as before.
The key point to remember is that the more frequently a customer engages with your posts on social media, through likes, comments and shares, the more likely they will continue to do so in the future. This is especially true for Facebook; its News Feed Algorithm filters content into individuals' feeds based on their interests - if a fan ignores or hides posts from you for an extended period of time, it becomes harder to get them back in there without paying for exposure.
Don't over do it
It may seem to be the best solution for gaining exposure on social media platforms such as Facebook, but posting content too frequently can actually be counter-productive. Not only will your most enthusiastic followers not appreciate an overload of posts from you, but it also takes time away from creating quality content that stands out and gets genuine engagement. An alternative way to increase reach is to spend a bit of money on advertising core content and boosting its visibility - if done correctly this encourages more unique users to interact with it and potentially boosts organic reach in the long run.
What types of posts generate the most engagement?
One of the most debated topics among social media marketers is determining which post type - text, image, video, link or other - is the most effective in reaching fans and prompting them to interact. Unfortunately, no one can provide an exact answer: social networks often change their algorithms and brands must quickly adapt; ultimately it's up to your data to tell you what works best.
Don't worry too much about the number of people you reach; instead, focus on developing dedicated followers and creating strong relationships.When it comes to social media marketing, engagement is more important than reach. That's not to say that reach isn't important - of course you want as many people as possible to see your content. However, if those people are not engaging with your content, then it's not doing its job.
It's far better to have a smaller group of engaged followers than a large group of unengaged ones. Why? Because engagement leads to loyalty. When someone takes the time to like, comment on or share your content, they are effectively saying that they value what you have to say. This is the first step in developing a relationship with them and turning them into a dedicated follower.
Automation doesn't need to be considered negative; it can have many positive benefits.
Radaar is manager for social media, try it!
Developing and sustaining a successful social media marketing approach with multiple channels is time-consuming. Automation can help you save time, remain agile, and plan your social strategy in more detail. Tools such as Radaar try it here, Buffer or Post Planner are useful as they let you manage multiple accounts through one platform, meaning that you can schedule posts for the upcoming week all at once, publish content when your audience is most active even if it's while you're asleep or away on vacation etc.
Automation tools can help to construct a successful long-tail social media strategy. Content can be shared multiple times across various networks over an allotted timeline, giving current followers the opportunity to see it and new followers the chance to discover your great material if they missed it before. When automating posts, observe the frequency that you do so; for Twitter - a few times in one day is fine due to its fast-paced nature, however on Facebook and LinkedIn there should be more of a delay between each share. To make each post distinctive and attractive, rework them when sharing again.
Social media marketing is free but Try out paid advertisements to see the results.
Several years ago, social media marketing was seen as an excellent free way to reach and promote to customers. In some ways this was true; however, with increased competition and a more savvy audience, paid promotion is now almost essential. That being said, there are still fantastic results that can be achieved without spending anything at all, yet even a small amount of money spent carefully (such as $5 daily on highly targeted Facebook ads) can significantly boost a brand's success. The key to successful social media advertising lies in promotions which blend naturally into the user interface and mirror the style of content their target audience would produce - just like unpaid content should be seamless rather than disruptive.
Analytics m, visual presentation of data can be useful.
Measure performance is a great way to track progress with Google Analytics and other tools
Understanding how your social media marketing is performing is essential for achieving sustained success. Google Analytics offers a free way to measure social media conversions. Under the "Social" section of the platform, two reports provide valuable insights for marketers: Network Referrals reveals data on traffic from social networks to your website and Landing Pages shows which web pages are most often shared on social media. In addition, you can use Google Analytics to set up and track goals like sales completion, inquiries and engagement. Setting up URL Destination as a goal is simple; when a visitor lands on a specified page such as an order acknowledgement page.
Other useful tools for measuring the performance of your social strategy include social networks’ native tools (Facebook Insights, Twitter and Pinterest Analytics, etc.)
Be patient, as slow and steady progress will lead to success. Ignore scams that promise quick results with little effort.
Success in social media does not happen overnight. Just like any relationship, it takes time and effort to form connections with your followers, who may take longer than others to convert into paying customers. While metrics such as increased brand awareness or improved customer service don't always yield immediate results, they are often more beneficial than one might first recognize. I have experienced businesses that rush headlong into social media marketing only to give up shortly afterward because they did not gain a massive amount of success in their first week of posting frequently (although this is an exaggeration!). If you do not plan on investing in social media for years rather than weeks or months, then you are setting yourself up for failure.
It can be tempting to use services which promise to quickly increase your followers, but these are often just scams. You will end up with many strangers or automated accounts, bots, who have no interest in you or your business. 50 passionate and loyal followers are worth far more than 5,000 people who do not care about what you do. The key to success on social media is patience and consistency in your efforts - this is the only real secret!