In one of my previous posts about Age of self-educating buyer, I mentioned that buyers no longer have to rely on salespeople to tell them what and why to buy a certain thing. There is a lot of information available online, companies produce more content that enables these potential buyers to decide about the purchase. To have a good content is as important as knowing how to spread this content further. That is why companies should also have very good social media base. Why and what is important about social media, read next tips & info about social media aspects for your business.
According to a study Social Media Examiner by Michael A. Stelzner from year 2013 reveals that 86 % of marketers say that social media is important for their business. And here are the biggest advantages of social media marketing, starting from the most important one:
- Increased exposure
- Increased traffic
- Provided marketplace Insight
- Developed loyal fans
- Generated leads
- Improved search ranking
- Grown business partnerships
- Reduced marketing expenses
- Improved sales
The more competitive you want to be with a help of your social media, more planned and strategic approach you must have. Thus, companies are able to generate more revenue or exposure if they include social media as a part of a corporate plan. Here are some tips how to take advantage of a social media power:
1. Clarify your social media goals
It is important to know what you want to achieve for your business when having a social media presence. You should be able to answer few questions, like: What do you want to accomplish? Why do you care? What do you want to track? Those goals should be explicit so that you know what to focus on. E.g.: I want to share valuable content. I want to see what´s going on in my industry and among my competitors. I want to integrate with my fans. I want to generate revenue. I want to create a traffic…and so on..
2. Keep a track on your goals
Once you set your goals, you should be able to track and measure them to see what you´re doing right and what wrong. Google Analytics will certainly help you with that. E.g. Data Hub Activity report demonstrates where and how people are talking about you on social networks. The Trackbacks report shows you the sites where others share your content. The reports will provide you such detailed information, the all you need is time and patience to be able to learn how to use 🙂
3. Choose the right social network channel
Depending on your nature of the business, you should choose the right social network. Do not try to use all possible social platforms, it´s too complex for you and you won´t have time to focus on all of them. Instead, choose the right ones where the major of your audience is.
4. Produce valuable content regularly
Do you want to annoy your audience by pushed sales? I guess not. How do you then attract your audience? You have to keep one thing in your mind. You have to be helpful. You should create your content, which must be of a help. The best way is to publish valuable tips, something that will help them to solve their problem. This will not only want these people to come back to your site but also want them to spread and share your content.
5. Listen to customers & engage with your social media fans
First observe and listen to your fans, see what they complain about and what they love about you. I would say you should pay attention to complaints and react to them ASAP. With that, they will see you´re not another bad business which does not care about customers. Also, ensure that you comment on any customers´comments or requests on social media. Even if they do not ask anything ,engage by posting super interactive questions by drawing their attention.
6. Post frequently
Many people recommend publishing short posts 5 to 7 times daily and long posts/content 1 to 4 times daily. It depends on your goals or which stage of business you are. I think if you just stick to publishing at least twice a day, it´s a good start! After you publish something, make sure you share it on all of your social channels. I recommend avoiding useless, irrelevant posts too often. Timing of your publishing is also important. More about it here.
7. Utilize Klout Score
Klout is website that uses social media analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the Klout Score. Klout Score is a numerical value between 1 and 100. It measures the size of user´s social media network and interaction with the content. It helps business business to learn about their online audiences.
8. Use hashtags
Using # hashtags help users to find your content. In which way can you use hashtags? It is easy to track any of your activity across many social networks. Hashtags can build your reputation online. If you create a trendy hashtag you can gain hundreds of followers daily. # helps you to engage in conversations. Instead of randomly trying to talk to users online, hashtags will help you to lead to relevant people.
9. Apply In-Person Events with your Social Media
You can use your personal events to interact with users on social media. It definitely provides great opportunities for businesses to bring in the benefits of both aspects. Several ways how to promote in-person events on social media:
- Engage – If you´re arranging any event, encourage potential attendees to interact with you early on by giving suggestions
- Design – create an event page on Facebook or any other event platform
- Reinforce potential attendees with videos, blog posts, press releases, etc.
- Expand – spread the conference presentations
- Use email links on your website and publish on SlideShare.
I´m sure there are plenty other things you should consider, however, I find these as something essential. What do you think?
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