Unbelievable as it may seem, you’ll still find many stating that social media marketing is a waste of time, money, effort, and how much it sucks. These are the people who started their campaign on the wrong foot and most likely don’t have a clearly laid out social media marketing strategy that aligns their business goals with their social media goals. These people should stop wasting time and learn how they can actually create a social media strategy that will work for them and that will yield an increase in their ROI.
Social media is a powerful instrument on communication that facilitates social behavior. If used correctly it can help you grow your business profitably. The key with social media is that you actually need clear set of social media goals on what you are going to do on the social web or you are going to end up bad mouthing this medium and anyone that says it’s good.
No ad to show here.
If you are going to use social media for marketing purposes, have a look at a couple of tips below to help you get started with setting your social media goals.
Social media is all about:
Connecting
Use the social web and all the popular social media channels to connect with people who you know, and people you would like to meet – your target audience. It’s the same as a traditional networking event, network with like minded individuals. The trick with this is all about finding the correct people to connect with. Don’t be fooled with vanity metrics such as followers or the number of likes. It really doesn’t mean anything if you have a huge following count but no engagement and conversions. Focus on connecting with the right people on the right network using the right content.
Engaging
Share valuable and interesting information with the people you are connected to – preferably your target audience. Share industry insights and your expertise in your market. This can help you reinforce and establish you as the leader in your field.
Digital marketing revolves around content and the same counts for social media. Only use the best (magnetic) content when sharing anything on the social web that will spark engagment. Don’t post content just for the sake of posting something. This might look good, but you will not get any return from your efforts.
Converting
When you are busy connecting and engaging with your target audience, look and be aware of any buying signals that pops up. These could be in the form of answers your audience is looking for. Answer them with your expertise and offer to help them in case they need any further help. This is a step that many are leaving out when engaging with their audience online. At the end of the day, you are most likely busy with a social media campaign to generate awareness, sales or leads. Always focus on conversions and how you can generate or increase them on social.
This in a nutshell is what social media marketing is all about. Set your social media goals to connect with your target audience, engage with them and drive conversions.
