According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of Americans are on social media.
As a small business, that’s a number you cannot afford to ignore. If you’re not on social media, you can bet that your competition already is. You need a social media marketing plan to succeed.
Mastering social media marketing for business isn’t exactly easy. Fortunately, with a few simple strategies, you can be on your way to growing your business using social media.
Here are our top four tips for creating a social media marketing plan.
1. Start by Setting Goals
The first step when creating a social media marketing plan is setting goals. Your goals should follow the SMART goals system. This is to ensure your efforts have a measurable impact on your business.
Your goals should use metrics to help you track success and identify areas for improvement. Whether your goal is to increase your conversion rate or acquire new customers, starting with a goal and a way to measure your success is the first step.
2. Get to Know Your Audience
Identifying your target audience enables you to tailor content to their wants and needs. By taking the time to research and understand your audience, you can narrow down what platforms your customers are most likely to be using and the sort of content they want to see. This will allow you to create content that is more likely to engage potential customers.
3. Create Compelling Content
Creating content for social media marketing is all about connecting with social media users. Focus on visual content as opposed to plain text. Social media users respond best to photos and videos.
When creating social media content, avoid making it too “salesy”. Social media users can easily spot content that doesn’t offer any benefit and they will keep scrolling.
Instead, your content should provide value to users without asking anything of them in return. While there should be some form of call-to-action, you don’t want to come off too strong. It’s all about finding a balance.
4. Prioritize Quality Over Quantity
When it comes to putting out content, the quality of what you put out is more important than the quantity. A good way to remain focused on quality over quantity is by creating a social media calendar.
When setting up your calendar, plan to post content on a regular basis. But don’t get carried away. Posting too frequently can result in weak content. Remember: Less can be more. Posting great content a few times per week can be more effective than posting lame content daily.
Ready to Take the Leap With Social Media Marketing?
Look before you leap. Remember that 72% of Americans who use social media? It probably includes you. But here’s the rub: A lot of small business owners assume that just because they’ve been using social media to keep up with family and friends, using it to market their business will be easy.
The truth is very different. There is a lot to learn if you want to be effective at social media marketing for business. Optimizing your marketing strategy on social media can take a lot of trial and error. Creating, scheduling, posting content and then measuring the results can be time consuming.
If you’re like most businesses, you want to get it right the first time. That’s where we come in. Our team of social media professionals can save you time and money. We can eliminate the guesswork and deliver results so you can focus on doing what your business does best. Use the form above to schedule a call with us today.
