Social Media (SM) as we know today is no longer merely the humble interactive forum it used to be, where friends got together to casually chat and share their pictures.
With active social media users at a staggering 2.3 Billion (Smartinsights), it has turned into this giant beast where everyone from children, to small business, to big brands and corporates of the world are social. All chiming in to grab their piece of the Social Media ‘pie’.
While the foundation of Social Media has always been about connecting with people, it sure has turned into a vital marketing tool for savvy businesses and brands around the globe. Companies are using SM to amplify their brand reputations and boost their ‘bottom line’.
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Check out these stats illustrating the growth dominance of Social Media;
- 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others. (Source: Ambassador)
- Visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. (Source: HubSpot)
- In 2015, Facebook influenced 52 per cent of consumers’ online and offline purchases, up from 36 per cent in 2014. (Source: The Drum)
- 78% of people who complain to a brand via Twitter expect a response within an hour. (Source: Lithium)
- In 2015, YouTube posted the figure of 40 billion all-time views for branded content. (Source: ReelSEO)
However, having said that, effective social media marketing is still a far cry from instantly boosting your company’s growth by simply throwing in a few blogposts daily, putting up creative status updates and tweets, or even having a good number of followers and ‘likes’
to your handles and posts.
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The following are some key elements that should be considered before firing up your Social Media Marketing Plan;
1. Covering your bases
It goes without saying that your website is the hub where you redirect all your traffic, be it through email campaigns or from Social Media platforms. This is where you showcase your brand's story. Your website should convey your expertise, it should be crafted with quality substance, a professionalism through content and design.
Responsive designs and engaging homepages have become the norm for any website. If you want to give a good first impression and keep your visitors glued to your site, this increases the chances of lead generation or conversions - relationship building if you will.
Remember, your site is there for a number of reasons;
- To inform and educate your customers.
- To offer valuable and practical solutions to queries.
- To provide well-crafted landing pages.
- To present engaging blogposts and information.
- To strategically place calls to actions (CTA), offering rewards.
- To link to social channels.
- To provide contact details.
- To be a place of purchase.
2. Who’s consuming your content? – Outline ‘Buyer Personas’
When you send out your social media content, it pays to understand who your target audiences or buyer personas are, so you know the right people to reach. Mapping out your buyer personas and understanding their attributes will create the most desired impact for you.
To create a buyer persona can start with answering a few questions about them and jotting down the person you see, so you have a clear understanding of your target audience.
You may wish to consider the following;
- Problems they are facing?
- What are they looking for, or needing help with?
- What inspires or motivates them?
- How do they feel at any given time in the year?
- What are their lifestyle preferences?
Having deciphered the above needs, goals and behaviour, it's much easier to communicate what you have to offer. If you have an understanding of your customer you can create relevant content and ascertain what kind of messages and brand ‘voice’ resonates to them.
3. Content before ‘Conversation’
It's true that Social Media takes a more personable approach, and a good, meaningful conversation can surely convert users into potential customers, but one needs to be wary of when the conversation is limited to time-killing chatter and not yielding any positive outcome.
With Content Marketing you need to draw a line when it comes to such conversations, whether with SM followers or peers, as this could easily seem like work in progress, but in actual fact it's just time wasted.
Any time spent on creating valuable content is worthwhile, it doesn’t matter if it’s even a 100 character tweet. A good rule of thumb would be to assess and picture whether the content you’re putting out or the essence of the conversation you’re having, will give the readers a good experience and make their lives better.
4. Connecting with Influencers – Building ‘Trust’
Trust plays a crucial role in any form of decision making. We're always seeking our friends and family’s advice on decisions we're unsure about. And the same goes when seeking decisions on products and services.
Besides our acquaintances, we also trust the voices and decisions of ‘Influencers' in our communities and industries.
Influencers are those celebrated few topic experts, thought leaders, brand advocates, journalists, bloggers, industry analysts and successful entrepreneurs who are at the top of their game and have a huge following and social media presence. They possess the capacity to influence the public or influence decisions.
Once you've identified the Influencers who resonate and align with your brand and your buyer personas, the strategy would be to connect and build a good relationship with these influencers. So, in turn, they will put out a good word on your behalf, share your content or brand and help you gain trust to make a positive impact in business.
Social Media Marketing is an inexpensive approach to building trust and authority. It can work as a powerful marketing tool within your Inbound Marketing Strategy, and work wonders to expand your customer base and help in the growth of your business.
If you'd like to know more or would like to contribute to this article, I'd love to hear from you.
Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249-5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au
Our Website is element7digital.com.au
