Social Media Networks have evolved rapidly in the past
decade or so that they have been in existence and have cumulatively made it
easier for everyone to connect and share as the slogan of one of the more popular
services says. So the fact of the matter is that they have made it possible for
people to connect across both space and time. But the real value of these
networks for business are only just beginning to get unlocked thanks to the
power of digital marketing and as such this type of marketing has become a must
for any enterprise that wants to stay ahead of the curve.
The formal definition of Social Media Marketing is that it
entails the use of social media platforms and websites in order to promote a
product or a service. Thanks to the highly measurable nature of digital media
the social media platforms often contain a motley of tools which are useful in
offering a wide-ranging set of actionable information that is of immense value
to the platform as a whole. Some of these tools include; data analytics,
geographical information, progress reports, demographics, success rate and engagement
with your specific digital campaign.
Social Media Channels
This whole sub field has created a new marketing professional
who is referred to as the digital marketer. Social Media Marketing which is a
sub field of Digital Marketing is largely concerned with targeting potential
customers on social media networks where they congregate in their droves. The
combined total number of people who interact daily on all the major social
media networks is estimated at 2 billion people, slightly under 30% of the
total world population. Facebook is the largest player in this genre and on its
own it registers traffic of 1.2 billion daily active users.
Used well and employing a predefined method your
business stands to reap huge rewards from these platforms. Let us briefly
explore the key concepts that are a must have for any expert digital marketer of long standing who wishes to work with some of the biggest brands in helping transform their user engagement and
converting website visitors into loyal customers who will purchase the
products that you have on offer. Without much further ado let us get down to
the key insights that we gleaned;
The Key Takeaways
·
Assemble The Team - As with any campaign,
especially a military campaign which is a matter of life and death, what
happens in the boardroom before even the first shots are fired is pivotal to the
success or otherwise of the campaign. The first step in any campaign is to
assemble a winning team.
The dream team should expect social media savvy above any other
skill, they should be comfortable using theses platforms to communicate and
communicate effectively. This means that they should possesses skills in writing
and editing wining copy, photo and video editing, and the knowledge of using
metric tools and responding to feedback in real time.
·
Plan The Campaign – Now that you have
an enthusiastic team that is armed with the minimum communication skills
mentioned above, you need to get into the actual social media marketing
campaign planning phase. You must employ a tactical strategy if there is any
hope of you getting anywhere fast.
The tactical strategy is hinged upon organizing your campaigns
short-term objectives and goals for each of the social media platforms that you
will be using. Assign tasks to team members who have the innate potential and
skills to see the tasks through. Generate and brainstorm on content ideas and
on the channels most appropriate for each piece of content.
·
Choose The Platforms – There are
various social media channels and platforms and each is designed for specific
content and specific engagements goals. For instance Twitter is a
micro-blogging platform is designed for sharing real time information and
offering links to the full content sources.
Instagram and SnapChat are image sharing platforms, YouTube and
Vimeo are video sharing platforms and Facebook comes across as a veritable jack
of all trades geared towards connecting family and friends. So you must
exercise great care in choosing the channels well suited for your content. An
easy way to go about this is to use social interaction reporting tools to see
where your audience is and target them where they are already at.
·
Establish Timelines – Set your goals
carefully and realistically and do make sure that you strive to stick to them
as much as possible. This will keep the entire team focused on the tasks at
hand and help them to direct their efforts and energy to make sure that not
only everything runs efficiently but also that the tasks get completed on time.
Some elements which you must include in your calendar include; categories,
keywords, article types, content formats, promotion and marketing, tracking
dates and the optimal times to promote certain types of content. Ideally you
should have a worksheet where you manage all these tasks.
·
Stick To Your Voice - This point
belongs to all forms of marketing regardless of whether it is old school or new
school marketing and it cannot be over emphasized. The fact of the matter is
that when your target audience interacts with your content (audio-visual or
textual) they are not only hearing your message but they are also interacting with
you in a very rich way.
Personal and Emotional
They are hearing
the voice of the company and trying to make sense of and assimilate many points
of information including tone, language, delivery, intent and much, much more.
In effect they are interacting with your company on a highly personal and
emotional level.
Make sure that this interaction is a true
reflection of your company and that the message will make them want to do
business with you. The end game of the social marketing or any digital
marketing campaign for that matter is to convert people into paying customers,
never lose sight of this in your efforts, if you adhere to the above points
then you will be well on your way to success.
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