Social Media Marketing is the overall term that refers to internet marketing over several forms of social media. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Youtube are just some of the main channels. The main aims of social media marketing are to achieve customer communication and branding goals. Businesses of every size now use social media and it is an integral part of their marketing strategies. Whether you are a small cake shop or an international recruitment firm, social media cannot be overlooked. We have put together some top tips on how to utilise and make the most of social media as a marketing tool.
Launching Your Business
What better way to launch and celebrate your new business than over social media channels. This is the perfect opportunity to connect with your potential customer base. Set up a Facebook page, drive fans to your other social media channels and give your fans something to talk about. Conversation is key, if you can get people talking about your brand you are for certain onto a winner.
Connect with the Right People
Interact with the right people, people that will be interested in your brand. By targeting the correct age- group, gender, people by their location or interests you are more likely to avoid wasting time by interacting with the wrong demographic. Facebook allows you to specify your target audience when setting up your page, similar tools can be found for Twitter.
Get Organised
Plan your campaigns. Come up with posting plans in advance and know when you are going to post. There are certain days of the week and times of the day that social media users are more active and you are more likely to gain interaction. Do research and have a competent, exciting, informative and engaging plan to put in action.
Know What Your Audience Wants
There’s no better way of finding out what your audience wants than trial and error. Test the waters, maybe visual social networking sites such as Instagram and Flickr and Instagram will work better with your audience. Perhaps they will engage better with Youtube videos that they can then share across other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. By trying out various methods of engagement you will be able to track what works best and continue by doing more of this.
Create A Buzz
Give people something to talk about! The most successful social media campaigns get people talking, and for the right reasons. Be as creative and inventive as you can for guaranteed success. If people talking about you, they will inevitably be posting and tweeting about you and this is how you fast forward to social media success.
Use tools such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to monitor mentions of your brand. Set the tone early of who and when you respond to interaction. If you get into a habit of replying quick and often, people expect this communication flow. If you don’t, people will notice and are less likely to engage.
Provide Customer Services
Many brands now use social media as their main, online customer service point of contact. Twitter has proved particularly popular for this. Many companies now offer Monday to Friday 9- 5 customer services through Twitter. Customers can tweet the company directly with a question, query, complaint or compliment that will be responded to by a company representative. It is a quick and efficient communication process. Having open and public conversations shows a healthy customer relationship. Responding to customer questions and resolving issues over social media proves that your company cares about its customers and also potential customers.
Use Analytics Tools
Measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns is an essential part of social media marketing. There are various social media analytics tools available that will aid you with this. Spredfast reports certain metrics of your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Flickr and Youtube accounts. Its main capabilities are revolved around rich publishing, reporting, analytics, engagement and social CRM. Other analytics tools include Hootsuite, UberVU and Viral Heat to name a few of the best.
Social media is now a critical element of every company’s marketing strategy. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are just some of the main players in the field. In order to attract and keep customers, it is essential to build a strong, dedicated online brand. To attract and keep customers it is now necessary to keep active on social medial. Provide valuable information to your followers to maintain engagement. Why not run a competition to attract new visitors? The key is to be creative, try new things, and run imaginative campaigns. If you get thinking, your followers will get talking and this is the ultimate result. Happy tweeting!
Photo Credit: Flickr/Jason Howie
