To win in any game, you must first be in the game.
I think it would be an extremely sad day, if as a business owner – you are not on any social media platform. The feedback we always get is, ‘But I am doing well despite my absence on said platforms.’
Many a business owners have fallen into the trap of relying only on word of mouth marketing (WoM). Disregarding all possibility of the enormous potential social media marketing has with regards to tapping into the untapped market full of potential customers. Trouble comes, when something unexpected happens – case in point Corona Virus. Your only source of customers, suddenly dries out. What then?
Social media marketing and by extension digital marketing is one way you can diversify your sources of getting customers for your business. Does it take time before you start to see some results – yes.
Great marketing, just like all other disciplines – takes time. With an emphasis of laying a strong and formidable foundation.
In this post we are going to talk about how do you start on this exciting path of social media marketing.
How can you effectively market your business on social media? Well, let’s break it down into 5 main steps. Ready?
Conduct Research
Take your time to find out what is it that you are getting yourself into. Conducting your own research on the following key areas is important: your target audience, what your competitors are doing and user behaviors on the specific social media platforms you intend to use.
How do you find this information? Well, there are a couple of ways. To get you started: in order to carry out competitor analysis visit your competitor’s social media pages. What content are they sharing? How often? How is their engagement and how big is their community (page likes and followers)? Learn as much as you can on all your top competitors in order to gain an understanding of what you will be getting into.
Being competitors we will work with the assumption that you have a shared target market, look at how people are responding to their content.
As you dive deeper, ask yourself; what motivates your target audience’s purchasing decisions. What problem are they trying to solve or what goal are they trying to accomplish by ordering your product or using your service? Understanding your customers should be at the heart of every piece of marketing content you put out. For ideally, you are making content for them. They are the stars of your show.
It’s advantageous to always know the vehicle you are driving. To imply, at this juncture you want to be educated on the social media platform you’re utilizing. How do people utilize the platform? Start with a few, with the possibility of adding on other as time goes by.
So with all of your knowledge compiled about your competitors, your target audience and your social media platforms, let’s move on to the next step.
Content Planning
By now, you must have heard that content is King. I am here to share the same sentiment. It actually is. Many a business owners have gotten excited about the prospect of handling social media marketing – on their own, only to realize mid-way there is a pertinent factor called content.
Which not only does it have to be generated frequently, it must also be creative, in varying formats and on brand. This is what then has killed many a noble cause of social media marketing.
So, how do you start of on the right track?
Once you are clear on who your target audience is, fit in their shoes. This will help you narrow down on the type of content that they respond to best on social media. Not only that, you will be able to identify what they care to see and what would they scroll right past.
From the moment you venture into social media marketing realize that it is all about capturing the attention of targeted, qualified, relevant followers to enter them into the top of your sales funnel. Don’t fall into the trap of making your content more sales-y instead be focused on your customer.
Optimize Your Accounts
Optimize! Optimize! Optimize!
That which you can do, go ahead and do exceptionally well. Think of it as putting your best foot forward on social media.
Some of the areas you need to pay attention to are:
• Filling out your bio,
• Adding a high resolution version of your logo as your profile photo,
• Ensuring your website links work, adding your business contact information
