Here are five social media marketing secrets that every marketer needs to know.
Here is a short list of four such tools.
The hard truth is that, initially, no matter how brilliant the content is, your engagement levels will probably be low. Consistency in content quality and frequency, over time, and when paired with the right strategy, is the path to respectable social ROI.
What makes content effective?
1) Relevance to your audience (Do your research)
2) Effective storytelling (Hire the right create people)
3) The ability to trigger the response you desire (Fail fast and learn from experience)
Who can generate word of mouth for your brand on social media?
Word of mouth is powerful because of the increased visibility and credibility it affords your brand, and cannot be compared to traditional marketing (self-promotion). Also note that people are more enthusiastic when they're involved themselves.
There's only so much that data, itself, can do. For instance, there are algorithms that can read comments, identify positive/negative words and tag them as relevant - but no algorithm can accurately depict how people feel about your brand.
Your entire strategy can't rely on data alone. The best approach is to assimilate data, apply other, relevant insights and build the rest of your strategy based on your experience and understanding of your audience.
The better you get to know your audience, the more beneficial it'll be for your business - in fact, unless you personally interact with them, you'll find your growth on social media limited.
Give social media its due, but see it for what is - a medium - and focus on connecting with the people on the other side of that medium. That's undoubtedly the best perspective for success on social media.
1. There’s no predictable pattern for success
Increase your number of posts per week or write blog posts more frequently won't always work. Every Social Media Marketing (SMO) Company is unique, as are the problems they're trying to solve, and the characteristics of the audience they want to attract. Additionally, social media platforms are constantly evolving, and with them the behavior of audience groups. There's no plausible way for one formula to produce brilliant results for every single business.Here is a short list of four such tools.
- Google Analytics is a great way to study and optimize your social media efforts. By determining which platforms drive most of your conversions, you can make an informed choice on where to invest your time and money.
- Content curation app DrumUp is a quick source for content to fill in your engagement gaps. Its online content reserve option and advanced scheduling (with creation of account groups for multiple account management) are great time-savers.
- Social monitoring tool Social Mention helps monitor brand mentions, competition and important keywords. Their sentiment analysis option, in particular, is great for brand reputation gauging and management.
- Image optimization app PicMonkey is the ultimate destination for images. Not only does the app have canvases to choose from for different usage, but there are also pre-made templates with background and font styles for each of them.
2. High ROI requires an engaged following
The target for any Digital marketer, on social media or otherwise, is ROI - unless you can justify your spend, marketing on any platform is pointless. One of the first barriers to this, in social media terms, is building a following. Unlike TV or radio where you advertise based on viewership that already exists, on social media you begin posting content to attract that viewership before you can expect any real results.The hard truth is that, initially, no matter how brilliant the content is, your engagement levels will probably be low. Consistency in content quality and frequency, over time, and when paired with the right strategy, is the path to respectable social ROI.
3. A documented and intentional content plan is crucial
To get past that first barrier of building an engaged following, a content marketing plan is essential. According to this study, 70% of Digital Marketing Company lack a content marketing strategy that's consistent.What makes content effective?
1) Relevance to your audience (Do your research)
2) Effective storytelling (Hire the right create people)
3) The ability to trigger the response you desire (Fail fast and learn from experience)
4. Word of mouth can be generated in less traditional ways
Companies have always channeled promotional messages and marketing models through their employees (offline referral based marketing). What most marketers still fail to realize is the tactic works equally well on social media. In fact, considering the virality of social media, referral or employee based marketing could provide even more effective results.Who can generate word of mouth for your brand on social media?
- Customers, employees, partners and fans. Building relationships with people is a pre-requisite for running any type of business. Extending these relationships to social media has benefits beyond simple measurement.
- With customers, you could collect and share testimonials or success stories on social media (guide to user generated content).
- With employees you could create an exciting employee advocacy program around promoting your company content (employee advocacy guide).
- With partners you could initiate mutually beneficial social media marketing partnerships.
- With influencers you could request them to help you gain visibility in exchange for a fair payment (influencer marketing guide).
Word of mouth is powerful because of the increased visibility and credibility it affords your brand, and cannot be compared to traditional marketing (self-promotion). Also note that people are more enthusiastic when they're involved themselves.
5. Data is only as valuable as your interpretation of it
Data is the holy grail of marketing for many marketers, but unless you're capable of comprehending that data and drawing actionable insights from it, it'll remain little more than a bunch of numbers.There's only so much that data, itself, can do. For instance, there are algorithms that can read comments, identify positive/negative words and tag them as relevant - but no algorithm can accurately depict how people feel about your brand.
Your entire strategy can't rely on data alone. The best approach is to assimilate data, apply other, relevant insights and build the rest of your strategy based on your experience and understanding of your audience.
The better you get to know your audience, the more beneficial it'll be for your business - in fact, unless you personally interact with them, you'll find your growth on social media limited.
Give social media its due, but see it for what is - a medium - and focus on connecting with the people on the other side of that medium. That's undoubtedly the best perspective for success on social media.
