Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to market products or services. Only in the last few years has this even become such a viable option for building business and profiting from the exposure. This avenue for building and growing business is huge and is growing rapidly. Failing to utilize this as a tool in the marketing process will result in missing out on a large chunk of targeted consumers. Now that we know what social media marketing is, now let’s tackle the most important question: Is your social media marketing strategy working? Whether you answered yes or no, you are definitely in the right place and at the right time.
Steps to effective social media marketing include:
- Defining goals and objectives
- Researching to determine the best sites for reaching the target market
- Establish contacts who find value in what is being offered
- Build a community within the contacts and strengthening the relationship
- Measuring of results based on the original goals and objectives
Most companies expect to enter into the world of social media and immediately witness droves of business as a return of the effort. That is far from way this works. Contrary to what the hope is, benefiting from social media takes time, patience and a building of momentum. There is a time of sowing and a time of reaping. In order enjoy the eventual harvest, work will be involved. The benefits may be subtle, at times, but will pay off in the end.
Such benefits include:
Brand Recognition – the most effective ways of using social media, is for building a brand. This allows control in how to position to a consumer and make the value known. Through consistent efforts, this is obtained.
Community – forming a community is vital with the use of social media. There is nothing like having followers who believe in a product or service. Interacting to determine the likes and dislikes of those who are supportive of such, is very important. Through dialog, key information can be provided and in the most cost effective way.
Influence – social media can be very powerful in helping to establish an expert or company as a go-to resource in a certain field.
Exposure – as with any sale, repeat exposure is often required in order to obtain the desired result. Social media is a great way to constantly remind the target market of what is being offered.
Social media success, nonetheless, requires consistency and with the realistic demands of today, who has the time and energy to do such? We do, that’s who! And here’s what we can offer:
- Maximum brand awareness
- Engaging messages
- Likeable content
- Paid advertising strategies
