How To Use Social Media In Marketing – A social media marketing plan is a road map for achieving your business goals through social media platforms. Whether you like social media or not, being active on social media is essential if you are trying to market your business. What’s the easiest way to reach your target market in a free, personal and convenient way? It seems like everyone has at least one favorite social media platform that they use. Harnessing the power of social media is essential in today’s digital world.
Today I want to share with you what has worked for me and how to set up your social media marketing road map. If you do it right, you can use social media marketing to dominate the market within your tribe.
How To Use Social Media In Marketing
In 2011 my husband and I started renovating houses. I started a blog to share our story. Within a year we have gained 10,000 social media followers. Social media is a great platform to help you create real life connections and I strongly believe that the number one secret to success is helping others succeed. After a year of blogging, I quickly fell in love with the online digital marketing world which led me to my current account management position here at Snap Agency.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
The first step in a successful social media marketing plan is to establish what you want to achieve. As with any good marketing plan, you need to assess your current situation and establish your goals. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Establishing SMART goals is the first step to making them a reality. Are your goals to increase brand awareness, generate leads, inform and educate, drive traffic to your site, retain customers or increase sales by 10%? Whatever your goals are, big or small, set realistic deadlines for reaching them so you’re always able to measure and adjust.
Dream big and start small! One of my goals for Construction2style was to reach a certain number of page views per month. To get that from our social media following, we need to have followers. I started out wanting 50 followers period. That soon grew to a target of 5,000 followers per month. Social media requires patience. I always say, if you do it right and you do what you love, the results will come.
Choosing which social media platforms you want to use can be an overwhelming and daunting task. You don’t need to be present on all platforms, but I recommend a few. There are a ton of platforms to choose from. If you don’t know where to start, start with the basics: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google +. From there, do a little research on your tribe and what platforms they are using. Make sure to be present on those platforms as well. Some other social media sites to consider are Houzz, Hometalk, Disqus, Snapchat, Tumblr, Vine, Whatsap, Zillow and YouTube.
My favorite! Instagram is all about show, not tell! It connects your customers, fans or followers with your culture. Who doesn’t love looking at great photos all day long without too much commentary?! Instagram is fun and visual.
Why Should You Use Social Media Marketing
My least favorite. However, it is one of the most powerful social platforms in the world. And it seems like everyone and their grandmother is on Facebook, literally. The reason I don’t like Facebook is because your fan page can have thousands of followers and people rarely see your updates. Facebook prioritizes the people its users interact with the most. If you want people to see your updates, they need to be actively engaged with you. So how do you show up in other people’s newsfeeds? Encourage fan engagement!
This is a close second favorite of mine! Pinterest is all about visual imagery. It’s a giant virtual idea and inspiration board. Abby, our strategist, and I both wrote blog posts about how to drive engagement on Pinterest and 10 tips to increase your Pinterest sales. Check them out!
Twitter is about a constant conversation. It is the best tool to reach people directly and publicly. If you need breaking news, forecasts, questions or opinions, this is the tool to use.
LinkedIn is all about professional social networking. People mean real business on this platform. LinkedIn is the largest business networking site in the United States.
The 8 Biggest Failures With Social Media Marketing
Compulsory Surprise! If you want to be found on Google you probably want to have a presence on their social media platforms. Google+ has 540 million active monthly users. Google+ sees its number of users increasing day by day. While not everyone is using Google+ you might as well get ahead of the curve and jump on it when your customers will soon be on it.
Identify your ideal customer. Know your target audience, age, profession, passion, motive, income, etc. This will help you determine which social media accounts, brands or businesses you want to target and what your goal is to target them. For example, our number one goal is to drive traffic to our website to build brand recognition by being sponsored by brands. If you are a business selling services I imagine your goal would be to get your followers to contact you for your services. You need to make sure you’re creating calls to action with content and imagery that will attract those followers. Measuring your results regularly will help you know if you need to readjust your marketing plan.
Once you have established your social media platforms you will want to create a content calendar. Without great content, even the best social media strategy is basically useless.
Once a content calendar is created, use tools to schedule your posts in advance, such as Hootsuite or Buffer. Make sure your calendar reflects your goals. If the purpose of your Facebook account is to drive traffic to your site, make sure to create an attractive call to action with a link to your website. And remember, it’s not all about you. Share, share, share!! This is apart from the leadership support for success! Depending on the platform I usually try to follow these rules:
How To Use Social Media Strategically This 2023
If you’re not sure how to share your resources, a safe bet is to follow the third rule of social media.
Promote your content while your users are online. View and adjust your engagement times. Find the sweet spot.
If you haven’t figured it out yet…last and most importantly, get involved! The easiest thing to do to help your business is to engage with your followers and support them. Set a specific time each day to engage with followers. Even though you’re representing your brand on your social accounts, it’s also important to represent your personality through your brand. I usually set aside 30 minutes per day. I take the first 5-10 minutes to reply to comments, and spend the rest of the time clicking and liking, commenting and sharing my follower pages.
Track your social media ROI to prove your social campaigns are paying off. If you don’t measure the results of your social media marketing campaign, you won’t know if your strategy is effective. There are a ton of tools that help you measure the effectiveness of your posts. Some social media platforms already have analytics built in so you’re able to compare month to month, but here’s a list of more free tools. I personally use Google Analytics to measure my results. Based on my primary goal of tracking website traffic, Google Analytics provides me with the main source of my social media campaigns.
Social Media Marketing Agency And Services Guide
Once you measure your results and find out what worked and what didn’t, adjust your strategy accordingly. It’s all there!
We use cookies on our website to remember your preferences and repeat visits to give you the most relevant experience. By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the use of all cookies. However you can visit cookie settings to provide a controlled consent. ACCEPTSSocial media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. People discover, visit, follow, and shop for brands on social media, so if you’re not on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you’re missing out! Great marketing on social media can bring significant success to your business, create dedicated brand advocates and even drive leads and sales.
Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that uses the power of popular social media networks to achieve your marketing and branding goals. But it’s not just about creating business accounts and posting whenever you feel like it. Social media marketing requires a well-developed strategy with measurable goals and includes:
Social media marketing also includes paid social media advertising, where you can pay to have your business appear in front of a large volume of highly targeted users.
Best Social Media Sites For Digital Marketing In 2023
With such widespread use and versatility, social media is one of the most effective free channels for marketing your business today. Here are some specific benefits of social media marketing:
The bigger and more engaged your audience is on social networks, the easier it will be for you to achieve your marketing goals.
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