Nearly 90% of Fortune 500 companies are using social media. There is no denying the power of
social media in today's world. The sheer number of active social media users is astonishing.
Active Users:
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Facebook - 1 billion
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LinkedIn - 200 million
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Twitter - 170 million
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Google+ - 100 million
But how do you get your business in front of them and do it in the most effective way?
1. Understand the personalities of the Big 4
Understanding the mindset divide of social media users is crucial to the success of your social media marketing campaign. How do people engage in various social networks, is there objective work or play? Mirror the emotional needs and drives of the user based on the persona of the social media network.
Facebook is the most visited and can be used as a humanizing tool for your business that allows you to show your employee's personalities. Posts should be less frequent and more valuable because the user most likely is not logging on with businessman hat on.
Twitter has the great ability to reach many in a short amount of time to create a buzz almost instantaneously. Downside is that it is not great for long term content allowing only 117 characters per post.
LinkedIn is the professional of the group where users are in a more deliberate mindset. Users share industry and business focused content that enhances their networking capabilities.
Google+ is less active than the previous 3, but a great tool to improve search engine optimization and the +1 button can improve click through rates. This optimizing guru favors valuable content and great for local SEO.
2. Set your goals
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Do you want to offer customer support through social media?
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Do you want to offer services and products directly from the social site?
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Do you want to drive traffic to a store?
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Do you want to direct traffic to a blog?
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Do you want to run contests and giveaways to expand your subscriber list?
3. Create a social engagement strategy
Social media marketing helps build relationships and presents an amazing opportunity to grow your company's reach while following and engaging customers and industry peers. Social media is only as good as your engagement and content. Make sure you have something valuable to share. Maintaining an active presence on social media allows you to build relationships not only with your followers and their followers, but a chance to offer stellar customer service by engaging your audience consistently.
4. Create content with your buyer persona in mind
The key to gaining traction with your consistent engagement is to create the right content for the right people in the right places. To create custom content that your buyer persona would be interested in you must understand what problems they encounter on a daily basis and what are they talking about in their industry or niche. Where do they go for social media or to learn new information? Don't make them find you.
5. Analyze your social media efforts
When you analyze the data where your goals met? If not what could you change or try? Did you post frequently and consistently? Should you change your the tone you use while blogging? Look for the patterns on what works and what doesn’t and how you can apply that info when it comes to refocusing your goals.
Social media is a powerful money making tool but it is nothing without an effective strategy of how to reach leads and offer them valuable content and do this in the correct setting.
