Want to reach your prospects and customers? Want to be the business they are talking about with their friends? Want to be the first company they call when they have a problem?
Of course you do. That’s why you need a strategy for social media marketing.
Consider this… social media has grown faster than any other trend in history. There are now more than 3.4 billion active social media users – more than 45% of the world population. More than one million new users join social media every day. They are checking their social feeds and posting updates, spending valuable time consuming social content.
Want to reach your prospects? It’s a safe bet you can find them on social media.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing: The creation and distribution of content on social media platforms to engage users.
The goal of social media marketing isn’t collecting likes and being the most popular Twitterista. For a business, the goal should be reaching business objectives – growing the company.
Just like any marketing effort, that means reaching out to your customers and prospects. You need the right message and right content to influence the prospect to take the action you want.
Here are the five steps you can take to turn your social media marketing efforts into business success.
5 Steps to Social Media Marketing Success
The questions posed with each of these steps will aid you as you plan your social media marketing strategy.
If all your customers are looking for information on your company on LinkedIn, then why would you post videos on Facebook? You need to determine who your target audience is, and find the social platforms they are frequently using. Study how they are using the platform, and what information they are looking for. You don’t need to post on every platform, only the ones your audience is on.
We’ve talked about how important social media marketing goals are. Your goals direct your marketing efforts and prioritize work. Review your social plan and how it connects to your overall business goals. How can your social media marketing help you reach the business goals? Making that connection sets a clear objective for your work.
Be strategic in your social posts. Every social post shapes your brand. So, what is your message going to say about you? Consider if the message works on the platform. Snapchat may not be the right place to release a new white paper. Your message strategy should influence content production.
Success with social media marketing requires regular posts and targeted content that fits the platform and supports your goal. That requires regular content production, scheduled distribution, and frequent follow-up. Look at your resources and schedule, and make sure you have a plan to back up and support your strategy and messaging.
- How are your evaluating your marketing?
Blindly launching new content on social media platforms isn’t going to grow your business. Look at how you will evaluate, and then optimize and improve your social media marketing. Link the evaluation to your goals and your plan. If you need to generate new leads from your social media, then evaluate if you are getting new leads from the platform. If you need to teach prospects how a service works, then evaluate engagement data.
Social Media and Business Growth
There are more than 2 billion active monthly users on Facebook. 1.5 billion users are active on WhatsApp. On average, each of us have 7.6 active social accounts.
Social media is huge, and growing. It can be intimidating, confusing and risky for businesses to implement a social media marketing strategy, but that’s where prospects and customers are. Even if your company isn’t there, you can bet the competition is.
The steps we’ve outlined above can take some of the confusion and risk out of social media marketing. Look to implement your strategy in manageable steps, and make it a priority for the company so you have enough resources in place to support the strategy.
If you have additional questions, or want to talk to an expert about how to craft and launch a social media marketing plan, then contact GO2 Partners. More than just expertise, GO2 offers the additional resources you may need (designers, copywriters, developers and more) to make your plan a success. Our goal is helping you reach your goals.
