Social media marketing is an immensely effective way of succeeding in business.
At the last count, there were 936 million people using Facebook on a daily basis.
That’s an incredible amount and similar numbers have been spotted on other social media platforms.
There are correct ways to market on social media. You need to get the foundations in place before you move forward.
This guide is going to show you just how to do it.
Choose Your Social Media Platform
One of the biggest mistakes people make is they try to target every social media platform. This is a mistake because not every social media platform is relevant to you.
Instead, you have to concentrate on choosing only the platforms that fit in with your target audience.
For example, you wouldn’t make a profile on LinkedIn if you were operating a cake business. It’s a professional platform not a creative platform.
Look at the various demographics on the various social media platforms and see if they fit in with the people you want to target.
Have a Strategy and a Goal
Studies have shown that friendships are the key to a longer healthier life. You don’t want superficial friendships on social media.
Your goal should be to connect with real people and turn them into long-term customers. They should be friends of your brand not customers.
Bear in mind that it can take multiple interactions before someone actually decides to make a purchase.
You must have an end goal in mind from the beginning and the relationship will be the vehicle you use to achieve that goal.
To begin with, the goal should by both timely and measurable.
For most people, this will be to funnel a certain amount of traffic to their website or to increase the number of conversions within a specified period of time.
You would be surprised at how many businesses don’t establish a working social media strategy before they get started.
Sourcing the Right Content
No longer can you simply share anything you want in the hope that people will see and interact with it.
You have more competition than ever before. Sourcing the right content requires you to look at what your competitors are doing and seeing what people are responding to.
There are three types of content you have to take into account:
– Blogging
– Images
– Video
In general, the last two are considered to be the most effective. As video continues to grow in prominence, you will find that video SEO could make your brand.
This is a new avenue that, when combined with social media marketing, can be extremely effective.
Do You Have a System for Testing?
No matter how skilled you are with social media, split testing is absolutely everything. You need to test and you need to continue testing even when you are getting the results you want.
A comprehensive system for testing will allow you to find out what’s working and what isn’t.
You should have a step-by-step process for this.
For example, set aside time each day or week to study the numbers coming from your content.
Most social media platforms already have analytical tools in place to allow you to do this.
There are a lot of numbers that don’t mean anything to you. Pick out the numbers that matter most, such as conversions, interactions, and demographics.
The numbers can tell you a lot. For example, you could discover that you are appealing to a demographic you never considered before or you could discover that your social media strategy is turning people away when they hit your landing page.
Persistence
Perhaps the most important foundation of social media marketing is persistence.
You are forever climbing a greasy pole and you have to be prepared for constant change and constant struggle. Even the biggest brands have times of feast and famine.
What’s important is that you stay at it and that you make sure you are practicing online reputation management to ensure that your brand is staying on the right path.
To be persistent, you have to do more than simply not giving up. Return to your original goals and review your strategies on a regular basis.
This is how you ensure you are getting the right results.
Coutesy: http://www.business.com/social-media-marketing/5-critical-building-blocks-of-social-media-marketing-and-how-to-put-them-in-place/