Social Media Marketing is the number one tool for small businesses to maintain and grow their client base. And with little to no cost in setting up and maintaining this marketing channel if you’re not taking advantage of Social Media now is the time to start. According to Research more than 75% of people between the ages of 30 and 49 use some form of social media. Since this is the age range representing the majority of those in a household with purchasing power, all small business owners should ensure they target their audience through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
It is a great idea to begin with a plan that lays out your goals and has an organizing framework to keep you on the right track. If you have already started with Social Media Marketing and hate what you’re doing, you can still change things around. Such as you change conversational and networking approaches in real life, you can also do online. The only difference is online, you’re talking to the world, and your potential audience is much, much bigger.
Here are 5 tips to help you make the change to better Social Media Marketing.
1. Layout your goals and look at your available resources.
What do you want to achieve from your Social Media? Why are you doing it? Are you looking for direct sales? Are you looking to offer a customer service chanel? Or do you want to build relationships with your clients and potential clients? Your answers to these questions will help you think about what type of content to publish and what activities to participate in.
Look at the available resources you have to help you achieve these goals: Who is going to be creating your content? Who is going to be maintaining your social media accounts? Who is going to be responding to questions and be the face of your business? Do you have the technical ability in-house to set up and maintain your social media accounts? If not, are you willing to learn yourself? Can you or someone who works for you write good content? Before executing a social media marketing plan you need to have the right people in place, if you need help with any of these areas you can always hire a social media marketing agency such as Digiket.
2. Know who your audience is and generate awesome relevant content
These days there are so many different social media channels so your first task is to know where your target audience spends their time. What type of content and conversations generate the most buzz and get people talking? What type of information do they want from you and your business? What don’t they like? Remember, you are not just publishing marketing messages; you need to find out what your audience wants and needs, so you can provide content of value that they will find useful and interesting. Be friendly in your approach so people actually want to start interacting with you and your business, whether they are a client or not.
Once you have found out where your audience is spending it’s time online and exactly what type of content they want, take the time to give them more of it. Don’t give up. You need to continually offer your audience great content, in order to generate a loyal following who trust.
3. Integrate your marketing message and create a schedule
All of your social media marketing messages should feed off each other. Cross-promote your efforts both online and offline, and make sure your social media and traditional marketing efforts work in conjunction. Always include details of your social media accounts on any printed materials you make and give people an incentive to start following you. That way even if they don’t become a client straight away you have the possibility of converting them in the future.
Devote specific times during your work day to your social media marketing. Once you have created a schedule, it’s easier to stick to and make sure you don’t avoid it each day. If you feel that you just don’t have the time in the day to do this you can always hire a social media marketing agency such as Digiket who will manage all your social media accounts for you.
4. Focus on quality and not quantity and don’t always be selling.
It’s easy to be caught up in the numbers game but remember it’s always better to have only a couple of hundred real clients and potentials following you than it is to have thousands of fake followers who will never buy anything from you in the first place.
And only spend about 20% of your efforts promoting to your followers, spend the rest of the time providing great content they will find beneficial.
5. Release control and keep learning.
To develop an emotional attachment to you and your business you must let your audience take control of the online conversation and make it their own. Remember, in the world of Social Media, apathy or invisibility is a bigger problem than negativity.
And never stop learning: To succeed in social media marketing, you need to be adaptable and accept that change is good.