New to Social Media? How to Begin a Social Marketing Campaign
How to establish a social marketing campaign?
Repeat after us: social media is not a trend. Repeat this, too: social media is an essential component of success in today’s business world.
Throughout history, businesses have seen huge marketing transformations due to the use of new ideas, technologies, innovations, and overall cleverness. Billboards and newspaper ads were once the pinnacle of competitive advertising. The famed Burma-Shave signs strategically placed along Old Route 66 still get talked about among marketing circles. Then, television came along and changed the face of marketing forever by giving companies an unprecedented conduit into the homes of millions of potential customers.
In the past decade, an arguably bigger transformation has occurred in the form of social media marketing. With its ability to reach millions of potential buyers in a matter of seconds – interacting, sharing videos, posting opinions, etc. – social media is definitely here to stay. This is why it’s become imperative for every business to focus on the creation of social marketing campaigns. Today, we’re going to dive into several of the primary factors involved in creating an effective campaign that will allow you to improve your brand’s image and make you more competitive.
Figure Out Your Goals
What exactly are you trying to achieve with your upcoming social marketing campaign? Yes, yes, we know… money. What business doesn’t want that? It’s important that you focus on the specifics. Perhaps you’re interested in using social media for brand development. Maybe you want to introduce a new product or service. Or you could be focused on one-upping your competition. Not only will your goals dictate the content of your marketing campaign, but they will also determine which social media platforms you choose to use and how you use them.
Research Competitors’ Social Marketing Campaigns
When developing your social marketing campaign, it’s imperative that you don’t live in a bubble. Just like with everything else in business, it’s important that you research what your competitors are doing. Check out the social media platforms that seem to be most effective for them and how they’re utilizing each platform. Then, if you’re so inclined, follow suit. There’s definitely nothing wrong with this strategy. Chances are, your competition has done the same multiple times with other companies. That’s how the game is played.
Develop Buyer Personas
Long before you begin any social media campaign, you should spend some time developing a series of buyer personas. These personas focus on various aspects of your potential customers such as age, gender, location, income, hobbies, etc. Many companies have found great success by creating a primary buyer persona and then branching that off into secondary personas that focus on disparate interests and other elements. Then, just choose the right persona for a particular campaign and you can hit the ground running!
Choose a Few Platforms for Social Marketing Campaigns
A big component to social media marketing is the choice of platforms. Some companies shoot themselves in the foot by spreading themselves too thin when a more focused campaign would have better results. Before you begin developing a campaign calendar (which we’ll discuss below), decide which platforms you’d like to use. The mainstays for most campaigns are Facebook and Twitter, but others such as Instagram and Pinterest are highly effective for the use of images and video. This is also a great reason to check with your competitors to see what’s been working best for them.
Build a Campaign Calendar
This is one of the most difficult parts of creating a successful social marketing campaign. Why? To be honest, it’s because many companies don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to an ongoing campaign consisting of multiple postings across various platforms. This is a big reason why many businesses enlist the help of a marketing agency to handle each campaign. If you do it yourself, you’ll want to plan your posting dates in advance and then be ready for any necessary alterations based on trends and other factors.
Create Engaging Content
If you can’t create engaging content for your social media campaign, then you’re dead in the water. You may not realize it, but most businesses do not create their own content. They don’t write their own blogs. They don’t write their own Facebook posts. They don’t even write their own Twitter tweets and those are limited to just a handful of words. This is because the creation of engaging content being used for a social media campaign is difficult. You can always infuse it with your own flair or expertise, of course, but leave the heavy lifting to the experts who offer social media marketing services.
Strike a Healthy Balance
More than ever before, consumers have gotten wise to the use of over-promotion via social media platforms. They understand that you’re a business trying to make a profit and that you’re promoting something, but they want to see a healthy balance between promotion and non-promotion. Not only does this tactic help improve the success of social media campaigns, but it can endear more people to your brand in a shorter amount of time, especially through word-of-mouth (or word-of-Facebook, as the case may be).
Interact with Your Audience
With every social marketing campaign, you should be ready to engage with your intended audience. After all, it’s called social media for a reason. People love to talk, and they will often ask questions or make comments on each Facebook post that you create. If you’re able to interact with them by answering their questions or thanking them for their contribution to the post, you’re more likely to attract them to your brand. Plus, you can immediately respond to complaints or concerns they might have, which will put you in a better light.
Use Images and Videos in Your Social Marketing Campaign
Human beings have always been visual creatures. When one caveman was trying to sell a new wheel to his next-cave neighbor, he probably drew pictures on his wall to illustrate its effectiveness. We say this in jest, of course, but the truth is that images have always been the best way to sell a product or service. With social media, it’s easy to share images or create short videos that demonstrate your product in ways that even the best words cannot.
Don’t Forget Your Website
Websites and social media marketing have always gone hand-in-hand. Whenever a potential customer sees your social media posting, he or she will immediately visit your website to learn more about your company as a whole and whatever it is that you’re selling. Web design in Clearwater has seen a big boom in recent years because companies have realized that a poorly constructed website is met with jeers from consumers. If your website looks outdated or doesn’t function properly, then your social marketing campaign won’t be as effective.
Contact P3 Agency for Your Next Social Marketing Campaign
The marketing experts at the P3 Agency have spent years developing an inbound marketing system that has each company’s best interests in mind. Our team is highly focused on social media marketing services because we know how well it works, but we also concentrate on brand development, web design services, and other components designed to take your business to the next level of success. To learn more about what we can do for your company or for a free marketing assessment, call us today at (800) 515-9422.