Brought to you by- Trending Social, July 11, 2019
Overwhelmed with all the information out there about this very topic? We are here to make it simple and easy to digest.
One of the most effective marketing tools requiring very few marketing dollars is, you know it, Social Media. You do not have to outspend competitors to out market them in this area.
Social Media is here to stay. I know this seems obvious to most, but would you believe many businesses, both small and large, still do not use all the Social Media Platforms available? Some are not using any. Mind boggling, right?
“Social Media, when done right, has the power to increase customer loyalty, reduce costs, reduce marketing costs and increase sales and traffic to your website. Your social channels give you the ability to own the conversation about your brand and target your ideal audience with organic posting.” -Trending Social Media
Here are a few easy steps to get you owning your Social Media Marketing Strategy.
1. Determine Your Goal
If you haven’t a clear goal, how will you know if your successful?
Do you want to:
· Attract new customers?
· Retain Current Customers?
· Own the conversation about your brand?
· Generate Sales through Social Media?
It can be all of these or one of these. This list translates to Social Media Jargon like this:
· Engagement=clicks, likes, shares, comments and mentions (attract new, own conversation)
· Reach = impressions, followers, and web traffic (attract new, own conversation, retain)
· Customer Loyalty = CPC or CPL, issues resolved, Lifetime value (retain customers, own conversation)
· Conversions = sales revenue, lead conversion rate and non-revenue conversions (attract new, retain SOME, own conversation LIGHTLY, Generate Sales)
It is wise to pick one or two of these options. Many try for all and never quite get one of them.
2.Name your Customer
Having a goal is great, now you need to name your customer. Who are they, what do they like to do, where do they live? Break down your average customer, but don’t “marry” them. What we mean is, know who they are but be willing to go after their cousin too. (Was that as weird as it looks?)
Check this list off:
· Age
· Gender
· Hobbies
· Occupation
· Location
· Needs
· Pain Point
· Education
3.Know your Competition
It is easy to overlook this area. Many ignore their competition like it is a point of integrity or point of hyper focus. We call it foolishness. If you are not paying attention to your competitor, you may look up one day and find they own you, your business and your customers.
Your competitor is on Social Media, they are actively campaigning. How often do they post? When do they post? How many followers and engagements do they have? What do they do right? What are they royally screwing up?
Track this data and look at it frequently.
4.Focus
Pick your poison. From the beginning, you need to pick a few Social Media channels and get it right.
Here’s an easy way to do this.
· Where do your customers hang out on Social Media?
· Which platform serves your ideal customer and you?
· Are you B2B focused?
· Local or National or International?
Here is a good breakdown of a few of the Top Social Media platforms
This was the hot spot for millennials and younger. It is quickly attracting 35-50 age range. (Your mom and possibly Grandma have heard of and might be on Instagram) As Facebook aged it bought Instagram for a reason! Instagram is all about the creativity, design and “look/feel” of the posts. Influencer marketing is a thing here, use them, but be very aware of what a “Real” Influencer is. (We need a blog post on this) You can now sell directly to your customer from Instagram.
While many international companies use Facebook, it is the heaven-sent mecca (did we overstate this?) for Local Businesses. Pay attention to age range here too. Facebook is ageing a bit. You won’t find under 35’s here as much as on Instagram. You can grow your following, community and sell directly from Facebook, which is a bonus. You can also schedule clients through Facebook.
LinkedIn is a great place for B2B connections, sales, and sharing ideas. It is rapidly becoming an amazing place for B@B sales. Own your conversation, connect with others and draw in clients.
Twitter serves to connect, grow, own the conversation and engage with potential customers, your industry and your loyal fans. It is very hard to generate sales through Twitter, but apparently you can start wars, and distract entire news media outlets for years. (We’ve said too much)
5. Social Media Campaigns Need Strategy
You’ve made some decisions, your ready to start, let’s talk strategy.
You Need a Plan Man!
Let us use a really obscure business as an example – Cigars from Mars. (These things just come to me….) Steps 1-4 here. Name your customer and your nemesis (competitor). Where does Cigar Aficionados hang out on Social Media? What kind of campaigns will they respond to? Do the nemeses run campaigns, what type? Are they successful?
Remember your customer? John 45has2kidsajob andlivesinsuburbiand likes a good whiskey. (Sorry, his name is so long, but at least he’s not a Jr.) He rarely posts on social media but scopes it out for information and purchases and to spy on his old high school buddies and he follows Cheap Cigars Online (all nemeses are Cheap and Vulgar).
And what is Cheap Cigars Online doing on Instagram? Or Facebook?
Finalize your campaign concepts. Consider these factors:
· Creative Resources needed to achieve
· Budget
· Campaign run time
How to Promote Your Campaign
If you haven’t the following or engagement needed to achieve your campaign goals, you will need to promote the campaign. There are a few ways to do this.
· Promote on Instagram with their “Promote your campaign feature”
· “Hire” an Influencer for promotions (We need a whole blog on this!)
· Use Email to contact current customer list (Email Campaign)
Data Analysis
Not as scary as it sounds!
When the campaign is over it is IMPERATIVE (we love throwing out big words) to really evaluate Profit vs Marketing Costs.
Time to evaluate. Did you meet the goals you set?
· Campaign generated website traffic.
· Sales directly generated by campaign.
· Reach of Campaign.
· Profit Earned.
Now Compare to your Goals
· How did the campaign perform?
· Did you meet ALL of your goals?
· What were the pros and cons?
· What were some challenges?
· What are some ways to improve?
RECORD your data. You will need to refer back to this for your next campaign. Data is everything. If you can’t prove it, it isn’t real. Hard Data makes for successful marketing in the future.
-Trending Social Media
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