Social Media Marketing is now an integral part of the marketing strategy of every organization.
To launch, post, receive input, engage with customers, and eventually sell, anyone with a product or service that needs a broader audience can turn to Social Media Marketing.
Ask any company owner what or who the best performing leads are, and they will possibly say ‘referrals‘.
Referrals are created within their SOCIAL circle by one person sharing their encounter with another person.
And this is Social Media Marketing’s strength. By putting yourself or your company in a social room, because someone notices, look for, reads about, or is specifically directed to you, you improve your chance of having more business.
But there are still certain standards to stick to and things to avoid, like any marketing platform.
We concentrate on the four steps to success in Social Media Marketing in this article …
Step 1: Whom are we targeting?
The question, who are we targeting, must begin with every well–planned marketing campaign?
If you’re an accountant and you’re selling yourself to teenagers, how will your campaign be successful?
You need to know who you’re going to want or better; you need your product or service.
Anything in your marketing content, whether online or offline, must be in complete harmony with this target market once you find out whom you’re targeting. This includes the fonts used behind your campaign, photos, language style, colors, offerings, and overall psychology.
Step 2: How will we reach our target audience?
Determining how you can hit your target market is the next critical step in an effective social media campaign.
Each of the four major websites for social media presents itself with numerous opportunities for marketing.
It will decide which social website will be most appropriate, this depends on the type of campaign you want to start.
Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the four most popular social websites. If you intend to use all four sites for advertising your product or service, to ensure
that your campaign will be successful, it is important to have a detailed understanding of each.
Step 3: What are we offering?
A Social Media campaign comes under the category of ‘branding‘ without an offer or reward.
And how can branding be measured? you can’t.
A successful marketing strategy should be observable, either online or offline.
If you put an amount of time or money into a campaign, it should return a measurable result.
If it is to result in a sale or lead, your bid must include these elements …
Uniqueness: if they can get the same or similar deal somewhere, why would anyone take up your offer?
Scarcity: we appreciate scarce items.
Why will gold be so valuable? if you could find it everywhere
Expiry Date: Making a deal available during the year would not generate incentives for you to ‘have it now until it’s too late.’
Qualify: it shouldn’t qualify anyone who comes across your bid.
They must also be inspired to take action immediately(or whatever timeline fits your business model), in addition to having the money to pay for your product or service.
Step 4: What are the strategies?
To ensure the target market follows the sales process, an effective
Social Media strategy must have one or more strategies in place.
What about a plan for email marketing that gives your prospective customers time to create trust and reason to buy your product or service?
To maximize the conversion rates of leads that come through, will you have a follow–up telemarketing service?
These are all critical questions for addressing and implementing solutions if you want to optimize your Social Media campaign performance.
Many company owners feel they only need to ‘be.’ in social media, for it to happen to them magically.
They think prospects would flood through their virtual doors somehow to grab control of their product or service.
It’s just not possible here.
If you are to optimize your performance, a Social Media strategy needs to be combined with one or more conventional sales and marketing strategies.
Use this article as a guide before, during, and after implementing your campaign to decide what went well and what could be changed in the next campaign, now that you know the four steps to an effective Social Marketing campaign.