Social media can have a measurable impact on the marketing strategy of a business. Hence, social media marketing plays a quintessential role in business strategy and is one of the most powerful weapons of your business arsenal. If used correctly it can create a great impact connecting you to prospective customers and giving your business the boost it needs. However, when you are just getting started social media marketing can be exciting as well as overwhelming. If you want to make the most out of it, you need to build a clear strategy. Here are a few tips to put you in the game:
- Align Your Goals: The first step in devising a social media marketing strategy is to understand where you are going and what you intend to achieve out of it. Are you looking for a better brand awareness? Do you want to increase web traffic or do you want to increase your sales or all of these. Knowing the end goal will help you prepare and choose the right strategy which is in alignment with your business goals and is the most efficient one for you.
- Create Measurable Objectives: Saying that you need to increase sales is a vague goal. Your objectives must be S.M.A.R.T – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Based. If you think your sales will spike by 1000%, that is not achievable. Set realistic goals achievable within a given time frame instead of engaging in wishful thinking.
- Profile Your Customers: Knowing the demographic data of your target audience like their age, habits, dislikes, motivations, income etc. makes it easier and cheaper for you to target them on social media. Create specific buzzwords so that when you send out blasts or viral content, you know that it is reaching the exact people you want it to reach and that will boost your conversions.
- Research Your Competition: When you research your competition you get to learn from their success strategies and also get to understand, what more you need to do, in order to get ahead of your competition. Look into their engagement strategies, their social profiles and compare how you measure up to them.
- Choose Your Channels: You need to choose a particular channel based on the product or service you are selling. Not every channel is built the same way and attracts a different kind of audience. If you are into fashion and you choose LinkedIn as your marketing channel, it may turn out to be a waste of your time. Know where your customers are and use that platform to reach out to them. Invest in that social media’s paid advertising services if you see that it can get you good conversions.
- Create a content strategy: Social media and content are mutually dependent upon each other. Without good content, there is no social media marketing and without social media, content has no way to be seen. You need to have good quality content which you will need to post using strategic timing and frequency.
- Guest Blogging : Guest blogging is the act of contributing a post to another blogger’s website. It will also help in growing the business and your brand awareness.
- Allocate Budget and Resources: Without having a budget, you cannot create a social media marketing plan. A good way to do this is to create a business plan and then allocate the resources in a systematic manner. If you are shy, prioritize your strategies according to the time frame based on returns. Accordingly assign roles to individuals and teams and have a review system in place in order to monitor progress.
If you start researching, you can come up with several strategies. What is important is that you choose the one that works best for you. Having said that, you also need to remember that social media is always evolving. Never be afraid to re-invent the wheel. As social media evolves you will need to keep revising and updating your strategies to move ahead.
