Social media is the fastest growing platform for
finding new clients, but doing it right requires a lot of thinking and
planning. An effective social media strategy is not one that stands
alone. It also doesn’t have to be too overly flashy, but it shouldn’t be
too simple either. But Social Media Marketing strategies are difficult
to draw up. Getting the balance right is never easy and we know that.
How do you know which Social media site to choose? What do you do once
you have?
That is why we have provided this handy step by step guide
to Social Media Marketing Strategies.
Step 1: DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT
»
Sit down with your team (yes, team. No marketer is an island) and begin
to plan out your strategy and your goals.
» What do you want
to do with your Social Media Marketing?
» What do you want it
to achieve and how?
» When do you want this goal to be
realised (please be realistic, SMM is long term)?
Share ideas
with your team, and encourage them to share with you. In this situation
there is no such thing as a bad idea, only ones that will work less
well...
Step 2: RESEARCH
» Find out what your competitors are doing. This will help you get an
idea of what to do and how to do it.
» Don’t steal! Just look
and use as a basis for your own ideas. Even Shakespeare had to get
inspiration from somewhere.
» It will also give you an idea of
what social media will work best for your company.
Just because
your competitors don’t have a Twitter account, doesn’t mean you should
jump on that and create one.
Chances
are that they had one and found it didn’t work. Or, jump on that and be
the first. It’s all part of the research journey. Just remember, not all
social media sites will work for your company. But you can always try
and find out.
Research your target market.
» What are
they looking for?
» What interests them?
» Figure
out what their needs are and how to meet those.
Read as much
information as you can. There is no point in going about Social Media
Marketing in a lackadaisical way. As soon as you’ve settled on a (or
more) Social Media site, get to working out how you will make you Social
Media strategy works.
Step 3: FIND THE RIGHT TOOLS
There are many social media management tools out there that will allow
you to manage all of your social media sites from one place.
For example, TweetDeck allows you to
access your Twitter, Google + and Facebook accounts from one place, with
one login. Other tools are Hootsuite and Seesmic that do pretty much the
same thing. Do your research here as well. TweetDeck, for example works
really well on browsers, but Seesmic is better for managing your social
media from your Smartphone (it’s available as an easy to download app in
most Smartphone app stores). Find something that will make managing your
social media easier. The easier it is to manage, the more likely you are
to continue managing it.
Step 4: ASK
Don’t be afraid to ask the experts. Comment on blog posts, email the
author or tweet at them. You never know, they could be very helpful.
Most of the time, people will reply. They’re happy that you’re reading
their articles, or listening to what they have to say. Or ask your
friends, people in your social networks, family or the very nice lady
who works in the canteen.
You’d be surprised at what
advice or information you can get.
Even if you think it might be
a bad idea, implement suggestions. Sometimes they work, sometimes they
don’t, but either way, you won’t know until you try.
Step 5: MAKE TIME TO UPDATE
»
Never let your updates slip.
» If you find yourself spending
less time on updating your social media, make some time.
»
Make a note in your diary, schedule some time or hire a company that
specialises in maintaining Social Media Marketing campaigns.
Whatever you do, make sure that you don’t let your content become stale
or irrelevant. People want fresh, relevant and exciting content. You
don’t have to update every day, but you do have to update your content
regularly. If you don’t have time to write a whole new post, link to
some news about innovations in your field. Or add a few new pictures to
that Facebook album dedicated to your current project.
Step 6: REVIEW
After a few months
(4-5 is best for the best set of results) analyse your performance.
There are many brilliant examples of social media results trackers
available on the web. Use them to correlate your data. Sit down and have
a brainstorming session with your team where you can analyse your
results.
Ask
yourself:
» Did you achieve your goals?
» Did you
see results?
» What is your social media campaign doing for
your company?
Tracking your data lets you focus on what you
should do next. It will help you narrow down:
» What worked
and what didn’t.
» Where you should put more effort in.
» Make a plan to make it all work.
Whatever you do, don’t give
up. Sometimes an idea fails; sometimes it’s the next great thing.
There is no way to know unless you stick with it.