With the influx of different social media tools, there are now so many different ways to target your chosen audience compared to 10 years ago.
When using social media, one strategy is to remember that you can do much more than just provide text-based information, you can post videos, photos, and links to other interesting resources that can add value to your followers.
There are many different ways you can make use of videos, with this and general Internet marketing activities, such as visual case studies, how-to videos, or customer testimonials.
Photos of you, your staff and maybe even photos from company social events can also be very positive, as users like to see who they are dealing with, it is easier to build relationships with people in the company if they can see who they are and interact with them.
Also, when you produce videos, use the staff that your customers would see if they walked into your store or office, this helps maintain familiarity with customers and can help build better relationships.
Social media strategies only work if your target audience accesses the medium. To make sure your customers and prospects know you’re on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to tell them. Send a newsletter to your customers and contacts to tell them that they can follow you on Twitter, etc. and make sure all printed marketing materials include the URLs of your various social media accounts. Social networks need the social part to work; therefore, you need people to come together for it to be an effective tool for your business.
Once you have people following you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, you need to keep them interested. One strategy is to have promotions, little things like posting sales through your tweets or putting friend coupons on your Facebook page keeps people interested and attracts more to join.
Social media strategies are slightly different from print or person-to-person strategies. You have to remember that you need to update your information and promotions so that more people want to follow you. It only works if there are members in your online community, so you need to market yourself to your audience to make them want to be a part of your community.
The best thing about Social Media Marketing is that it is not only a great opportunity, but it is also one of the lowest cost marketing activities available to businesses today.
Clearly, the way companies use Social Media Marketing will vary depending on the type of business or the target market, but companies that really want to compete in today’s markets need to make sure they are making use of these tools. Just having a website is not enough anymore, you need to promote your business in the online world and engage with your target audience.