Is social media actually a viable marketing strategy for business owners and companies?
The short answer is absolutely! Creating a strategic inbound marketing strategy using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and even Pinterest is helping small and large companies to attract their ideal customers.
There are over 7 billion people in the world and 3.48 billion of those people are on social media [via Hootsuite]
The days of marketing and advertising using TV ads and Billboards are long gone. Sure, you may see ads from super large companies and household brands but, for the small businesses and medium-sized companies who are trying to figure out the best way to get more eyes on their business — social media is the way to go.
Social media marketing comes down to a few important points that we’ll cover here in this article. While figuring out how to bring more revenue to your business and connect with your customers, keep in mind that inbound marketing strategies are NECESSARY for everything you do on social.
So, Where Should You Start?
Can I answer your question with a question?
Where is your target customer?
If they’re on Instagram then you better head over there and create a business profile, Instagram strategy and figure out what content they need to see from you.
Now marketers know that marketing and analytics is all about numbers. The more eyes that are on your website, business profiles and content the better for your brand and the more likely you are to get referrals to your business.
Once you figure out which social sites your ideal customers are hanging out on you can start to target them through the following social media components:
- Copywriting
- Branded graphics
- Hashtag research
- Video marketing
- Customer service and relationship building
- Customer reviews
- Giveaway’s and discounts [if you’re a product based company]
You Don’t Have to Be Everywhere at Once but…
Even if your company is over 15 years old and you’re used to using different marketing tactics than social media, content, and video marketing you will want to start your social media marketing journey in 1-2 places.
Eventually, when you’ve mastered your brand presence on Facebook or Twitter you can choose another social media site like YouTube.
As mentioned earlier the best route is to go where your ideal customer is. If they’re on Instagram then you should head over there ASAP and create content to serve them best.
After your inbound marketing strategy is well into play you need to focus on expanding your brand. Marketing is all about numbers and analytics so the more eyes you get on your business profiles the more customers and clients you can convert.
Using a simple sales funnel to bring your entire marketing strategy together will ensure that you don’t leave any leads out of the loop.
Moving cold leads [people who have not heard of your brand] into your sales funnel using Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and your Blog creates a cohesive inbound marketing strategy that allows website traffic and increased sales at every step.
What Should I Post?
I’m not sure if you know this or not but there are tons and tons of content creators out there. Knowing what to post depend on your ideal customer and existing customers. Try this list of content ideas to bring in new leads:
- Day in the life
- Employee reviews
- Video content
- Customer reviews
- User generated posts
- Highlight your latest blog posts
- Highlight your latest Facebook LIVE
- What your company culture is like
- Industry news and exclusive tips
The last bullet point is the most important one which is going to show your social media audience all of your expertise and knowledge.
So if you’re a realtor, posting on Instagram about how to find a stellar mortgage rate will keep your audience engaged and coming back for more industry tips.
The goal of posting this kind of valuable, awesome content is for your audience to begin to know, like and trust your brand. After they begin to trust you they’re going to be more likely to work with you.
BONUS TIP:
Remember that it takes 6-12 encounters [per Hubspot] for a customer to actually buy from you. This is why social media marketing and digital marketing in general are crucial.
If you know you need social media to expand your brand and create a stellar marketing strategy contact me: tiffany@tiffygwrites.com so we can expand your biz!
