Having a solid marketing plan is essential for every small business to get the word out about their products and services. Companies need to be cost-effective (i.e., small marketing budget) and one way to maximize your dollars today is through online social media marketing.
Social media is a legitimate business marketing avenue. People spend significant amounts of time on platforms each day and it’s a way to get in front of them where they are at. It's an important tool to promote your business and ultimately help increase income. The question needs to be not about how big your marketing budget is, but how you intend to spend the marketing budget you have. Here are some ways to maximize your budget while still getting the best bang for your buck with social media.
From the start, your focus should be on building relationships via social media - and trust - so your fans and readers ultimately become repeat customers who tell others about your brand.
Developing a target audience by defining who to engage with is critical. You don't need to talk to everyone - only the ones that are most likely to be attracted to what you offer. Who are your best customers? Figure that out and ask them what social media networks they use.
Outline your specific goals and outcome before you develop your marketing strategy. Determine what you want your social media marketing strategy to achieve. Approach things in 2 ways: goals and objectives.
Set high-level goals, although they don't have to be precise. Be sure you're always aware of the big picture and the vision that keep you motivated and ambitious. A goal can be driving 15% more traffic to your website through using social media.
You can become more detailed when it comes to objectives. Determine how many leads you want to generate, what you'd like your close rate to be, and how to accurately measure increases in brand awareness. You can run Facebook Ads and track them all the way through to ecommerce purchases so you know a particular ad generated a particular sale.
You make a promise of value when you make a value proposition. It can help you stand out from the competition. And whether you want to promote a product using Instagram or Facebook, you need to distinguish your product and company from similar ones. For your value proposition to be valid it has to be relevant, visually appealing, clear and concise and include a call-to-action.
Creating an effective value proposition on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin will motivate users to click your ad. You could offer a free eBook or offer a download to a printable coupon...or anything that details the unique value your product provides.
Creating an effective value proposition on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin will motivate users to click your ad. You could offer a free eBook or offer a download to a printable coupon...or anything that details the unique value your product provides.
Every social media strategy needs a strong foundation of well-crafted, carefully chosen content. Content adds substance to social media, and developing a content strategy that's effective for your target audience, and effective when assessing your competitors, will have the most success.
An important part of your content strategy is to develop and maintain a consistent tone of voice to guarantee the ongoing quality of your content no matter who is creating it. It's also helpful to be consistent. You need to post regularly so your audience gets accustomed to the times and opportunity to interact with you.
It's wise to create different types of content, both written (articles, blog posts), and visual (tutorial videos, infographics, podcasts, etc.), and track what content is most effective on your social media networks.
Following those overarching keys can help make your social media marketing successful. Social media is where people spend time, so it’s important to develop ways to reach them there!
Need help with your social media strategy? Contact me, I can help.
