Social media marketing is a necessity in today’s online marketing world. It’s not optional any more. The only question to answer now is, which social media sites are most appropriate for your brand?
Why Social Media Is Necessary
Social media has become a marketing channel of its own. Your competition is there, your customers are there, and your suppliers and business partners are there. You should be there too.
But you don’t want to be there just because everyone else is there. You want to be there because it’s right for your business. Therefore, if you have any of the following business goals or practices in place, then you should consider a social media presence:
- You have an e-commerce or sell your products online
- You have a blog and write to it regularly
- You have landing pages to which you wish to drive traffic
- You have downloads on your website you want to promote
- You do any digital publishing or digital marketing
- You want to attract mobile traffic of any kind
In short, if any part of your business is digital in nature, you want to be on social media. If your business is brick and mortar and you want to sell products or services online, then you should be on social media.
How to Do Social Media Effectively
It isn’t enough to do social media. You want to do it well or not at all. So have a plan.
You need to decide two things before you start posting.
- What do you want to promote
- Who are you promoting to?
In other words, what is your reason for being on social media?
Secondly, after answering those two questions, make it a point not to use social media strictly as a promotional tool. Think of it as a conversational tool. No matter which platform you use, your goal should be to establish and build relationships with people you want to do business with. How you approach that initiative may be different depending on your company brand, niche or industry, your competition, and other factors.
Thirdly, you want your social media output to be visual as much as possible. People respond to visual posts much better than straight text, but that’s not to say you won’t ever post straight text.
At the end of the day, your best social media prospecting will be done by simply building positive relationships. You’ll be surprised at how much falls together when you do that.