Social Media Strategy Is No Longer Optional
When it comes to innovative and successful marketing strategy, it’s difficult to think of an industry that is capable of avoiding social media and continue to grow business exponentially. We need to emphasise the significance of Social Media Strategy – it is that important. As part of your e acquisition strategy social media is essential.
There was once a time when business cards were a given and another period when it was considered that your business was not bona fide if you didn’t have a website. Nowadays, if you don’t have a social media presence you may find yourself stagnating. As my mum used to say “tough love” is the way to enlightenment.
The reality is you need to be engaging where your prospects online. They are already there researching, evaluating and recommending, so provide them a place to gather, interact, ask questions and consume your content. If you don’t, you may as well try selling sand to Africa, because no one will be buying.
The fascinating thing about social media marketing is that it is relatively inexpensive. If you plan and create your social platforms effectively, you can manage your initiatives in house, however keep in mind that you will need to devote major planning and management times.
In case you harbour any scepticism about the validity for supplementing your marketing with social media to grow your business , simply invest a half hour of your time comparing your competitor’s Google social media strategy and stats with yours and you’ll be knee deep in setting up or evaluating your social accounts before you can say LinkedIn.
Numbers don’t lie, social media marketing increases your brand recognition, brand loyalty, and conversion rates.
- 84% of B2B marketers use social networking in some format.
- The vast majority of marketers (59%) using social media for more than 6 hours per week.
- 83% of marketers suggest that social media is crucial for their business.
- 42% of marketers state Facebook is vital or worthwhile to their business
Social media persistence is not a onetime fix. There are tools like Jumplead and Hootsuite that enable you to pre-schedule posts, however to maximise your results you need to be full engaged daily. That means answering positive comments and pouring water on the flames of negative comments before they escalate unchecked.
Let’s review how to employ social media strategy to boost your marketing initiatives:
Prepare: The significance of preparation can’t be exaggerated. First consider what is important to your audience, ask yourself; what information they want to know, what they care about most, what’s going to drive them into action. Next, develop your content marketing strategy and content calendar to highlight what social comms to post and when.
Nurture: Precisely what does your audience care about? If all your audience is interested in is blue boxes, then simply don’t chat with them about red boxes. Your prospects and customers don’t engage with your brand to be bombarded with irrelevant info, so keep your content creation consistent and pertinent.
Track: You’ll find numerous awesome social media monitoring tools available that can help you track what’s happening in your social arena. For example you can use Google Alerts to monitor the keywords being searched that find your site.
Note: You don’t need an account on all social networks. Even in the event that all social networks work for your , you’ll be a lot more successful selecting two or three social platforms and cultivate these.
Inbound marketing has become the most effective online marketing method since 2006. Today businesses perform most of their research online, a long time before they contact you. A comprehensive inbound strategy is crucial to help influence your prospect’s decision process, demonstrating why your brand is best placed to meet their needs.
