Social Media marketing has become one of the strongest pillars of digital marketing. However, some of the perceptions regarding social media marketing are still not profound.
People perceive social media marketing as merely a good social media presence by logging in various social media platforms and posting updates and contents.
However, if you strategize the social media marketing with this perception, maximum chances are that you’ll put all your efforts, time, money, and resources in vain.
The definition of social media marketing and its functions in the contemporary digital marketing era has undergone a steady change. It requires more precise and efficient planning in today’s era.
If we compare it from what it was in the decades ago, we can find a very little similarity. Back then, there were only few business profiles operating successfully and functioning well on different social media platforms.
But today, it is highly important to promote your selling points and engage the target audiences efficiently via social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn and so on.
It does not only include an efficient posting with regular updates but the precise and accurate content which works well in engaging your target audience.
The goal is to promote sales and generate consistent and long term returns on investment. However, achieving this goal via social media marketing is not as easy as it seems.
If you’re a beginner at this, there are chances that you may end up making little mistakes which prove to be havoc later.
To avoid such a case here is a checklist to help you successfully sail through a social media marketing strategy planning.
Be Clear with the Goals
This is the basic foundation of social media management or campaign strategy. Defining clear goals and objectives will give you proper direction and purpose which will help you in narrowing down the main themes your content will deal with.
Define the base strategy
Set a roadmap which will help you fine-tune the campaign throughout. You can start by assessing the methodology and objective of all your marketing activities.
Realistic budget
Setting the realistic budget is the important step while planning your strategy and it comes right after defining your goals. While some expenses can be avoided and narrowed, there are some you should not compromise with.
Campaigns can result to be useless without good advertising. Therefore, set your budget for some paid ads. Also, remember to identify and assess your targets based on geographical grounds to narrow down your marketing strategy.
Know your audience
Knowing your audience and planning the content accordingly is the next big step. Getting familiar with your audience would also help you in choosing the best social media platform to start with your marketing campaign.
It will also ensure that your content plan is in accordance with the right target audience and the language used is best for your audience to comprehend your message.
Pick the social channels.
There are many social media channels available today to make a mark among your target audience efficiently. Many big brands might consider having an overall presence in the various platforms. The reason for this is that they have a large customer base and can afford enough resources to make a strong presence in all the channels.
This, in turn, would also fuel their sales. However, for small businesses or startups, having an overall presence might not be possible. They might not work to the best efficiency in all the channels and so, picking a few which are most relatable to their business and target audience would be a great way to start with.
Dominate the channels which are most likely to drive sales for your specified business. Start with it, and move to others eventually. This can be a great approach for a successful social media
Being the largest and most popular social platform, Facebook is the first option that ever comes to the mind while thinking of social media marketing. However, the recent change in its algorithm might result in a little difficulty in managing the business profile pages.
However, Facebook ads are the best source of generating sales online through SMM. If you’re considering paid promotions, Facebook ads should be at the top of your list.
Moreover, for targeting the local audiences and building a high reputation for your local business, engaging the customers and potential customers, the check-in and review option in Facebook might work best. Therefore, Facebook works great in paid promotions and local business targeting.
Coming next to line up in the popular and largest social media platforms is Instagram. Instagram is the network which is centered on the visual content. This platform is a major hub for brick-and-mortar businesses, e-commerce shops, and influencers alike.
Instagram encourages brands to get more creative by producing more engaging visual content. It involves a strategically planned quick and creative captions with witty quotes, unique and appealing visuals with a creative touch and overall a creative strategy to showcase what you are selling.
This increase the chances of boosted ROI as an audience might get easily attracted to the visually creative posts and this may instigate them to buy your product or services.
LinkedIn is a more professional and business-oriented platform. It involves engaging different categories of business profiles and professional updates and posting. If your business focuses primarily on the B2B front, LinkedIn is a great platform to choose.
If you’re targeting professionals and many business profiles to sell your product, service or just to get connected with higher level managers for your business growth, LinkedIn offers the right channel for your social media marketing.
- Youtube
Recently, many big business companies are optimizing and focusing more on their Youtube profiles. This is because the high networking and engaging on the Youtube speaks for itself.
The video content works great for the contemporary audience. It engages the young as well older audience and depending on your brand and services or products you provide, you can leverage this benefit.
Posting videos, however, may cost a little extra, but in a longer run, thy work best in running a successful social media marketing.
This visual planning platform is highly popular among the millennial generation. Pinterest has lately become one of the very active and progressive platforms. Pinterest can work best in social selling.
Pinterest is ideal for visual and inspirational content that uses the product or service as the centerpiece. You may consider Pinterest for SMM in the later stages of the business.