7 Steps to Successful Social Media Marketing

Social Media marketing tips graphic

When it comes to marketing, social media is no longer optional for your business. It’s the “first and in many cases, only” point of contact for consumers, who are more inclined to spend money online than their predecessors. Creative Blend Design will walk you through the social media marketing process in a new seven-part weekly blog series, 7 Steps to Successful Social Media Marketing.

Introduction

Here’s a staggering fact, on Monday, August 24, 2015, Facebook reached a new milestone. For the first time ever, one billion people logged on and used Facebook in a single day. That’s a whole lot of people on Facebook.

7 Steps to Successful Social Media – Intro InfographicIf that doesn’t strike a chord, consider the Pew Research Center’s survey conducted in March and April of 2015 on social media use. This survey found that 85% of adults are internet users and 67% are smartphone users. Today, 72% of online adults use Facebook; furthermore, the study found those on Facebook remain highly engaged with 70% stating they log on daily, including 43% who do so several times a day. Activity on other social networks have also experienced significant growth between 2012 and 2015; Pinterest is up 16% and Instagram is up 15% in that time period.

Deloitte recently published their study, “Navigating the New Digital Divide: Capitalizing on Digital Influence in Retail.” The report found that 47% of millennials are influenced in their purchases by social media. Furthermore, the report reveals while consumers have indicated digital interactions influence their purchase behavior, “the steps in the process may not be directly attributable to the eventual purchase. By failing to capture the consumers’ share of mind at critical decision points (in the shopping journey), retailers potentially fail to become a part of the consideration set and therefore, risk losing out on the sale at the end of the journey. Retailers need to increasingly focus on, and invest in, the moments that matter across the shopping journey.” The idea is to plant the seed early and make an impression in the consumer’s mind. You then need to foster the relationship by creating more points of contact and impressions that resonate with how the consumer feels, not just thinks. These are intangible benefits that social media can provide if used properly.

All these studies and facts reinforce your need for social media marketing. Social media for businesses requires time and focus, it isn’t the same as posting a cute picture of your niece or sharing a funny meme on your personal account. You need a sound strategy to get in on the conversation. Creative Blend Design is here to help you define a concrete path towards successful social media marketing for your business.

Step 1: Research

Define Your Audience

Research is a key component to establish a successful social media marketing strategy and should be your first step. It allows you define your audience, and to see where your audience is, which platforms they use, and what your audience is engaging with and how frequently.

Identify Your Social Media Platforms

As you are researching and defining your audience, you should be able to choose the best platforms to reach your target market. Not all social media platforms are relevant to all businesses so be strategic. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Linked In are basic standards for most businesses, regardless of your industry and market. But, if in your research you identified that a large portion or your target demo is on tumblr or Vine or SnapChat, it would make sense to create accounts and utilize those platforms as well. Furthermore, pay attention to where your competitors and industry leaders are and how they successfully use those platforms to market to their audience.

Breakdown Your Audience

There are also plenty of free tools available, so make use of them. Facebook Insights allows you to dissect your audience’s demographics, including gender, geographic location, language spoken and age breakdown. Using these tools, you can selectively target your active audience with specific content tailored towards them, as well as identify new opportunities for growth.

Track Your Competitors

You can also gain insight on what your competitors are doing and how successful (or unsuccessful) your competitors’ social media strategies are and learn from them. Make notes on everything from what type of content is resonating, the frequency of posting, their tone, etc.

Identify Influencers

While researching you should also identify influencers in your market. Influencers can be popular bloggers, journalists, executives, trendsetters, etc., within your industry. This gives you the ability to network and create potential partnerships while also giving you insight on what’s trending.

As you can see, research can go a long way in determining your strategy for successful social media marketing. In our next weekly blog we’ll tackle Step 2 – Goal Setting!

Is your business having trouble finding the perfect social media marketing strategy? Creative Blend Design will help you define a strategic plan that makes sense for your business. Please call us at (844) 223-8326 or click here to use our contact form.

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