Starting an online Social Media presence can be daunting. We’ve laid out a few bullet points to hopefully steer you in the right direction!
1. What do you want the end result or goal of your social media marketing to be? What would you like to accomplish? More leads, more followers, more sales, more customer loyalty/confidence, more control over your companies reputation online? Ensure it’s a reasonable “ask” – if you’re not sure, consult someone who has experience in social media campaigns and ask them!
2. What tracking methods will you use to determine if you have the right strategies in place to achieve the goals that you set? There are a few that are free to use and they are invaluable- examples include knowem.com, SocialMention.com, HowSociable.com, and Hootsuite. We use others that are paid for and offer complex and detailed monitoring and measurement. Whichever you choose, ensure you like the user interface and the reporting.
3. Do you need an in house social media manager (an employee) or is outsourcing the duties a better fit? Are you able to keep a full time employee on payroll which would probably include paying medical benefits, vacation and dealing with sick time…or is it better to find a social media management company and let them handle all the duties? By using a social media management company, you would only pay a set monthly fee and also have a custom package designed especially for your business.
4. What do your followers see as far as the sites or pages that you are directing them to from your social media networks? Are your profiles set up to deliver your followers, and potential customers, to a page that will get them to submit their name and email address (squeeze page offering a free eBook or special report) so you can start building a relationship with your list? No matter what site or page you’re sending them to, be sure that there is a call to action on that page. If you’re just directing them to your home page and hope they’ll stick around and find the info they came for, you will be disappointed with your results. The average website surfer will only give your site 8 to 20 seconds to determine if it’s what they’re looking for. Give your followers something interesting or new to look at every time they click a link. Ask a question, share news, show a photograph, and best of all, share a video on social media – it may not make sense to you right now, but it all keeps your followers engaged and included, and you’ll see how that can build into ongoing relationships.
5. Do all your social media marketing efforts link to each other and do they work in synergy with each other? Are your websites, blogs and social sites set up to interact with each other and work together to create a more viral effect? You have to make it easy for your subscribers to navigate around your site and share things on your site that they find valuable, interesting and important with others. The easier it is (shortlinks, share buttons, like buttons) the better.
These are just a few pointers for you to thinkg about – our next entry will include tips on tools, campaign and website set up.