Is social media marketing right for you as part of your strategic business model?
If it is, where does it fit? Does it fit at all?
Is it a long-term strategy or a quick-fix?
The what, where, why and how of social media marketing.
The Case For Social Media Marketing (if it needs one).
What it is.
Social media marketing has really come to the forefront in the last few years and its not going anywhere soon. It will continue to be more and more one of the foremost valuable marketing tools in any businesses marketing arsenal.
Social media is just one leg on this wild animal. If it is all you do to promote your business/service, you're in trouble, or you will be one day. With constantly changing algorithms and advertising policies, you're building your house on rented land.
If, however, you use it to build, oh, I don't know, say, an email list, then you're on the right track (read this article if you need convincing: "7 experts on why building your email list is so important").
So what is it? What social media marketing should be, is part of your overall business marketing strategy. Don't make it the be-all and end-all and don't miss it's importance. Make it one of the strategic pillars in fulfilling your business model.
Why you care.
This has been said to death, BUT, if you are wanting to get in front of potential clients, whether they're across the street or across the globe, you can not afford to ignore the power and potential of the figures represented below.
Image from smartinsights.com
Yes, that's over 2.7 Billion users on Facebook alone!
If you're looking for just the Australian Stats, check out the Social Media News article here where they go into the fact that, "According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Population Clock there are approximately 26.28 million Australians. Facebook’s recent data shows there are now 11.4 million active Australians on Facebook. That's a massive chunk of the total Australian population as active Facebook users!
So why do you care?
Because I'm assuming that your business needs clients? Customers? Loyal followers? Brand awareness & trust building are just a couple of the great benefits of being on this train.
Where it fits.
This is completely dependent on what type of business you are running.
You might be selling products and be able to sell directly from Facebook. Although, you would probably then benefit from utilising YouTube and a stand-alone website as well. Getting a little hold on some Google Adwords and driving that traffic where you need it to go.
Social Media can be used to set yourself up as the expert in your field. Get yourself out there and get known for what you know! Make videos, write blogs, create offers, network with others, reach out with a human hand as much as you can instead of auto-responders.
Be known as someone who cares.
Where does it fit? It fits right where you need it to, because you create your page, your channel, your feed, your world online. This is where you can showcase your own personality and brand. What makes you, you? What sets your company/business/service apart from the others in your industry?
Where you place the focal point, is where it will fit. So don't just go all cowboy in creating accounts and just throwing whatever out there. Put some though into the process and get some consistency between your accounts. Show that you're serious about being here and doing whatever it is that you do.
How it will work for you.
Social media doesn't have to be a short term marketing plan and i don't think that's where it fits best anyway.
Online is not the microwave of marketing. Yes, there are the 'overnighters'. Those that seem to just make a million dollars in a couple of hours doing what seems like very little. Insiders secret: It can take years to become an overnight success. Not always, but it can.
That said, social media marketing will work best for you with a long term plan that has strategic closer range goals as well.
Create and curate quality content to share on your channels while focusing more on the quality than the quantity.
What works best is consistency and quality. Pick a specific time to share things. Create a calendar with what you're going to share on it for the month ahead.
Create an ideas bank. Use Google Drive or a similar cloud based storage to put things into that you find around the web and then put it all together later when you have time.
If it's all too much learning and churning, hire someone that knows what they're doing to do it for you. Do your homework on them and agree on your expectations prior to starting to avoid disappointment and frustrations.
Summary (Action Steps)
Building your online presence is not something that you should take lightly. Take your time and get it right from the start. Consistency and quality.
Don't let it be your only marketing platform, but don't miss the opportunity that social media marketing presents either. Done right, this can propel your business forward exponentially.
Figure out what your end game is first. Do you want to use it to direct sell products or services? Is it just for brand awareness - to get in front of people and get known? Do you want to generate leads and collect email addresses so that you can build your own group of loyal followers that way?
If in doubt, reach out. Hire someone, or seek advice on ways you can make the most of what can be a very profitable both monetarily for your business and in a relational sense by building trust and allowing your own personality to help you to stand out.
Here's a fun question to end with: If your business was a person, what would its name be? What personality does your business have/do you want to present to the world? Fun & casual? Serious & professional? Think about it.
All my best,
Graham
Byles Digital Design
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