4 Steps to Success in Social Media Marketing
Social Media Marketing is now an
essential component of any business's marketing plan. Anyone with a product or
service that needs promoting can turn to Social Media Marketing to introduce,
share, gain feedback, engage with consumers and ultimately Sell.
If you meet any business owner
and ask him about from where you get leads and they'll always say referrals.
Referrals are generated from one person sharing their experience with another
person within their SOCIAL circle.
And this is the power of SocialMedia Marketing. By placing yourself or your business in a social space you
increase your chance of receiving more business due to someone finding,
searching for, reading about or directly being referred to you.
But like any marketing platform,
there are always certain principles to adhere to and pitfalls to avoid. In this
article, we're focusing on the 4 steps to success in Social Media Marketing...
Step 1: WHO?
Any well-planned marketing
campaign must begin with the question, who are we targeting? If you are an
accountant and you market yourself to teenagers how successful will your
campaign be? You have to know who is likely to want or even better; NEED your
product or service.
Once you work out who you're
targeting, EVERYTHING in your marketing material, whether online or offline
must be in total alignment with this target market. This includes the fonts
used, images, language style, colors, offers and overall psychology behind your
campaign.
If it doesn't, you will likely
have little success with your Social Marketing campaign.
Step 2: HOW?
The next essential step to a
successful Social Marketing campaign is to determine how you will reach your
target market.
Every one of the four fundamental
Social Media sites loans themselves to various advertising openings. Depending
on the type of campaign you plan to initiate will determine which Social
website will be most suitable.
The four most popular Social
websites are Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If you plan to use all
four sites to market your product or service, it's essential to have a thorough
understanding of each to ensure your campaign will be successful.
Step 3: OFFER
Without an offer or incentive, a
Social marketing campaign falls under the category of 'branding'. And how can
you measure branding? You can't.
A successful marketing campaign
either online or offline should be measurable. If you put 'x' amount of time or
money into a campaign it should return measurable results in dollar terms or
leads created.
Your offer must include these
elements if it's to result in a sale or lead...
- Unique - why would someone take up your offer if they can get the same or similar offer elsewhere?
- Scarce - we value things that are scarce. Why is gold so valuable? Because there's not much of it.
- Expiry Date - having an offer available all year round won't create motivation in your prospect to 'get it now before it's too late'.
- Relevant - your fonts, colors, images, layout, etc of your online marketing must be in alignment with your target market.
- Qualify - not everyone that comes across your offer will be qualified. In addition to needing the money to pay for your product or service, they must also be motivated to take action today (or whichever time-frame suits your business model).
Step 4: STRATEGY
A successful Social Marketing campaign must have one or more strategies in place to ensure the target market
follows your sales process.
What does your marketing funnel
look like for each strategy for each Social Media website? Will you have one
system that essentially triggers enthusiasm for the possibility by having them
visit your site? Will you have another system that goes directly for the deal?
Shouldn't something be said about an email showcasing procedure that permits
the customer time to develop trust and inspiration to buy your item or
administration? Will you have a follow-up telemarketing service to increase the
conversion rates of leads that come through?
These are all important questions
to answer and implement solutions for if you're to maximize the results of your
Social Marketing campaign.
Many business owners believe that
they simply need to 'be' in Social Media for it to magically happen for them.
They believe that prospects will somehow flood through their virtual doors to
get hold of their product or service. This simply isn't realistic.
A Social Marketing campaign needs
to be integrated with one or more traditional sales and marketing techniques if
you're to maximize your results.

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