According to the marketing company Forrester Research, your customers are doing a 66 to 90% of the consumer journey on their own. According to Google, users study an average of 10.4 publications before buying, and according to Global Web Index, the average consumer has 5.8 accounts in social networks and actively uses 2.8 accounts. This means that you need to offer audiences quality content on social networks to help potential customers make the right consumption decisions. In this article, you will find a step by step description of the social media marketing strategies that will help you effectively promote business on social networks.
Steps in SMM Strategy:
Step 1: Determine the promotion strategy in social networks
To develop a strategy to answer the following questions:
- What do you want to achieve with the help of SMM? Write down the goals that you want to achieve. Define the problem, solving that; you run the target. You certainly know that the goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant to your business and urgent. For example, the goal might look like this: in three months SMM-campaign should increase the number of transmissions to the site from social networks up to 100 per day.
- Who is your target audience? You have to understand, for someone running and someone you want to see on the site or to the cashier at the store. Hire a marketing person, corresponding to each segment of your audience.
- What information consumer needs who is planning to buy your product? Try to simulate the customer journey of your customers. The answer to this question will help you to plan media campaigns.
- What social networks are popular among your target audience? You should identify the site, which will be used for promotion.
- At what time the representatives of your target audience actively use social networks? The answer to this question will help you to plan the time of publication.
Be sure to write down the answers to the questions.
Step 2: Select the communication tactics
After answering the strategic questions, you must solve an important strategic task. Select the tone and style of communication with the audience in social networks. You need to determine who will publish notes and reply to comments, as you will be communicating with clients and colleagues. Use the following guidelines:
- Assign responsibility for publishing content on social networks. Encourage your partner or employee to use an informal style of communication with the audience.
- Choose a professional who will play the role of chief expert. This may be the head of a profile department or senior manager. Ask him to use business communication style. This person should be responsible for complex customer questions or moderate conflict.
- Select the visual elements of the brand; you will be using in the SMM-campaign. Company pages in social networks use a recognizable cover of “Facebook” and hat in “Twitter.”
Use the chosen tactics constantly to an audience accustomed to your style.
Assign the smartest personnel in the role of an expert
Step 3: Create content
This is a major step in the construction of SMM Strategy, as content is the foundation of effective business promotion in social networks. At the stage of preparation, an article about content planning will help. The following tips will make your content campaign effective:
- Announce your content. It is also engaged in curated and re-publish the most popular materials.
- Mix and match different types of content. Pay attention to the visual appeal of posts. This will help your publications to attract the attention of users. Offer users infographics, photos, videos, presentations, e-books. Read our blog post about how to create a presentation that is exactly like the audience.
- Encourage users to create content. To do so, keep the discussions, hold contests and sweepstakes, customer interest opinion.
To increase the coverage of the audience, ask your employees and friends to do a repost.
We have to create content
Step 4: optimize content
Even if you create a very cool content, it cannot compete with cats, celebrities and nude, if you do not optimize it. Use the following guidelines:
- Add a bright picture for each post in the “Facebook” and other networks. By the way, if the audience loves cats and celebrities, why not give it to them? Just do not overdo it.
- Write catchy headlines. You can help killer recipes.
- Make the content readable. Explore articles on usability and readability.
- Provide visibility of the content for the search engines. It is as Google, as well as on the internal search of social networks. Use relevant keywords, specify the metadata on the site. Be sure to use the hashtags.
- Use online widgets subscriptions and Schering. For example, use the block “Share” from the largest search engine.
- Use calls to action. They help users navigate and perform the desired action.
Make sure that the published content available target audience.
Optimize Content
Step 5: Think about the conversion of users of social networks
Schering and comments by yourself do not bring you transactions and profits. To convert users of social networks to customers, you need to take additional action. Think about these measures:
- Specify the profiles of social networking contact details: phone number, email address, username in Skype. This is especially true if you are using the network as a virtual shop window.
- Encourage users to leave contact information. For example, to share a phone number or e-mail addresses or discounts valuable content.
- Directory of users interested in the product, on the conversion landing page. For example, this might be the current action.
- Directory of all users in the information section of your website. It must be a source of information necessary for making a purchasing decision.
Find a way to continue the cooperation with the subscriber outside of the “Facebook” or Google+.
Subscribers should be converted into buyers and stay happy
Step 6: communicate
Social networks are created for communication. To successfully promote a business, you need to communicate with potential clients and colleagues. Pay attention to the following recommendations:
- Actively attract subscribers. To do so, publish relevant content and promote it by all available means.
- Offer to subscribe to your page current and potential clients. Motivate them with discounts, access to exclusive information, and the opportunity to exchange views.
- Participate in discussions in other groups. You need to gain credibility.
- Ask well-known in your industry experts evaluate your content. It can bring you hundreds of subscriptions.
- Respond to comments encourages users to continue the discussion. The more your audience, the more subscribers you will.
- Provoke the audience. Think about how you can do it.
Try that in whatever way you need to revive the group or Public. The success of SMM-campaign depends on this.
Communicate better
Step 7: Measure the promotion of
Track ROI SMM-campaign. Use the UTM-tag, watch key metrics on the site. Use the following guidelines:
- Keep an eye on metrics in social networks. Pay attention to the number of subscribers, the number of comments, and likes to posts. These indicators need to grow.
- Track traffic from social networks. You are interested in quantitative and qualitative indicators: the number of conversions, the behavior on the site conversion rate.
- Keep track of business performance: the number of transactions, average check, income, and profit. How does the SMM Strategy, on sale? Does paying off money invested in the promotion?
If the figures do not suit you, look for a way to increase the effectiveness of SMM.
Measure the promotion
Promotion strategy
Social media is a part of an integrated Internet marketing. Plan for it needs of the audience and how to sell your product. Evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy every two months. Based on the assessment, you can make adjustments to it.
One, even the coolest, SMM Strategy is not enough to expand your marketing campaign at full capacity.
