If you have an existing digital marketing initiative, or you are in the process of creating one, are you going to include a social media strategy to work together with your marketing plan? Using various Web 2.0 (social media) channels in your marketing mix is an excellent way to get the word out about your company and to get others to talk about your brand, services, or even products online.
When you mention “social media marketing” to people, usually their first reaction is to think about Facebook and Twitter. Yes, these two house hold names are the biggest and most popular social media channels available, but will your campaign only rely on these two, and do you really know what social media is all about? What are you going to include in your strategy? Did you plan your campaign?
Here’s some information that can help you with your social media marketing campaign.
Content
What are you going to post on Facebook or write a blog about? Are you going Tweet? Are there any websites with relevant content you are visiting on a daily basis to find interesting and new information to share with your network? How often are you going to share your own content such as new blog posts, articles, etc that you have written on your website? Are you going to use different formats of content such as video and audio?
Targeted audience
Do you know which audience you are going to target with your campaign? What do you know about them? Can you describe your ideal customer and know what they are interested in? Before you can help them with their queries and problems, you have to find them first, and you must exactly know who they are. Where does the audience you want to reach hang out online? If they are only on LinkedIn, why put all your effort into your Twitter campaign?
Once you have the information on who your targeted audience is and where they are spending their time online, you can start planning your methods of engaging with them to ultimately add them to your network.
Engagement
If you are great in what you do, you can build up yourself as the expert in your niche online. Is this important? It definitely is as when most people are given an option, they would prefer to buy and do business with someone who they know, trust, and like. Give your network the opportunity to get to know you by listening to their questions first to establish the need. Express keen interest and have engaging conversations with the people most likely interested in your services or products. These people can also include the ones that are centers of influence in your market niche.
Participation
To build solid relationships with social media takes time, and effort. You need to participate and engage regularly in order to gain new followers and to build up momentum. Many people/marketers are giving up too soon. Always show up even though your progress may seem slow. The seeds that you are planting today can really pay off in big ways further down the road.
Now that you have all the elements to consider and use in place, what is your purpose for using social media in your digital marketing mix? How are you going to present yourself online? What results are you after?
If you can answer these questions, consider the commitment it is going to take to achieve the results you are after. How many channels are you going to use? How are you going to keep up with the most important people in your industry? Are you going to develop a content marketing plan that you can share across the channels you have chosen? When are you going to engage with your audience?
Social media marketing is huge and it usually takes time and effort to get the best results. Plan your social media campaign and you will reap the rewards.