Every business must take advantage of the opportunities presented to it in order to effectively market and sell their chosen brand. Success in social media marketing campaigns means putting to use the many options available, which requires learning about what they are before deciding which options to use.
It’s important for you to truly engage in conversation with your social media followers. Many businesses don’t understand that in many cases, customers leave negative feedback to try to get an issue resolved or talk about a common problem with the company’s products. Respond to any of your customers’ reviews and have a conversation with them. Be open and willing to listen, and this will help make your company more successful.
Social Media
Create special offers for social media followers. Lure them in with something they can’t resist or find elsewhere. Try opening up contests for your fans. If not, offer an exclusive price reduction or coupon savings just for followers to enjoy. You can also have announcements that are made specifically on social media websites.
To get a better social media marketing network, avoid pushing products. Post stories or links from external providers relevant to your industry or niche. There are a variety of other posting types, such as contests, pictures and even asking trivia questions. Interact with those whom you follow. Recognize the value of engaging with a product rather than placing it as an advertisement. Rather than simply encouraging customers to purchase your product, show them how well it fits into their lifestyle, and why they should purchase it.
It takes patience to create a social media network. Unless you are Justin Beiber, don’t expect thousands of followers to just magically appear when you put up your profile. It has happened in the past, but usually it is by chance. If your profiles go viral immediately, that is like gold to your business and is very rare. Take your time and be patient, and you will attract followers before long.
Make sure you have a lot of interaction with your customers. If it’s appropriate, comment on their blogs or Facebook status. Keep your comments limited to your company, products or niche. Do not interfere with their personal discussions.
Anytime you post on Twitter, make sure a tag is added on. Tags go after the # symbol and allow your feed entries to appear for users that have joined certain groups. The tags should relate to your target audience.
Social Media
Do not expect to see immediate results. A great social media plan does not happen overnight. Prior to announcing major social media efforts, take the time to get as many people as possible signed up to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. To get the word out, make your social media page known in all of your other marketing materials.
Measure your plan’s success. You should establish statistics showing how much activity you generated and how many new followers you got every week. When you can make the connection between your actions and results, it will become easier to create a more effective marketing strategy. If you aren’t monitoring all your social medial marketing results then it becomes impossible to know what works and what doesn’t.
Consider the benefits of giveaway promotions through social media. Giving away free products is a great way to get followers to your profile. Consider a free sample or a small promotional mug or hat that you can give away by posting a link to the freebie on different freebie sites.
Use a variety of social marketing venues for the greatest success. While Facebook may be the most popular and effective tool, do not underestimate the marketing capacity of lesser sites like Myspace and twitter. This provides a higher level of visibility, which will yield more sales.
By following these tips, you will be able to start a great social media campaign right away and follow through with more campaigns as your business grows and prospers. You can do it simply, affordably and efficiently, so get to work!