Is it Worth Investing in Social Media?
If you’re in the marketing industry, you likely read the title and are jumping off your seat pointing the blog out to someone you know or nodding in agreement. On the other hand if you’re a business owner, you’re reading the title and you may or may not agree but you look at things slightly different – knowing that every dollar counts. Is it worth investing in social media? Sometimes it’s hard to justify and fund an effort if you aren’t sure about your ability to create immediate new leads or sales. Despite that thought, businesses (both small and large) are investing heavily into social media. So why exactly are they doing this? Let’s take a closer look to figure it out:
Should You Invest in Social Media?
Traditional marketing efforts such as print ads still play a large role for many businesses today but they lack the certain element that has become a big part of social media: the ability to share marketing messages with your target audience.
No longer do we have the days when you’re in your office wondering whether someone saw your billboard or advertisement in a newspaper or magazine. You can now use social media to create lists and groups comprised of your ideal customers, use social listening to understand what your audience wants and share product information with them. If you’re really dedicated, you can even dispel rumors about your company and straighten up any misconceptions, both of which can lead to new customers in some cases.
[irp]
Here are a few ways for you to do that:
Social Listening and How You Can Take Advantage of It
You may be sitting there and wondering what “social listening” is – it’s simple though, it’s the act of keeping an eye out on your industry and your target audience’s conversation. On Twitter for example, you can search terms that are important to your business. If you’re a company that sells wine, you can search the #wine hashtag on Twitter as well as terms common to your industry such as #thirstythursday, #wineoclock, #foodie, etc. You’ll see real-time conversations that people are having about these topics and you should be able to learn a lot from that.
Twitter isn’t the only place you can take advantage of social listening. You can look up popular accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see if there are best practices that you can put in place as part of your strategy. Furthermore, social media gives you the best insight into the activities and strategies your competitors are utilizing.
Organize Your Efforts by Creating Lists and Groups on Social Media
After you’ve done some social listening, you can try to organize your efforts by creating private lists on Twitter. The list can consist of all of the people that seem notable in the space including influencers, products that are being promoted, etc. This will give you all of the insight you want to keep track of at your fingertips – information such as what gets shared the most, what your audience wants, etc.
Those of you who have active email lists can consider creating a Facebook group where you’ll share new product or service information, maybe even a discount. You can use a Facebook group to discuss trends in your industry, positioning yourself as a thought-leader in the field. It’s obvious that the more your audience trusts you, the more likely they are to purchase your product or service.
Share Your Story on Social Media with Confidence
Before social media and content marketing efforts, your company was at the mercy of the media. You could spend your time crafting the perfect message but it’ll be publicized the way everyone sees it, if at all. You don’t have to hope for lady luck or seek out journalists anymore.
You can go back to create compelling content on your website that provides useful, timely information for your audience. Think of what is most important to your customers and become their go-to resource, afterwards use social media to share your content. Build relationships with influential people on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn by sharing their content and providing them with content you think they’d like. You’ll be given the chance to build your brand the way you think it should be built.
As mentioned before, social media is becoming a powerful way to combat misinformation. If you’re not active on social media, your customers and potential customers could be talking about your brand and you wouldn’t even know it. If it’s someone tweeting about a bad experience or perhaps they’re sharing a post to your inactive Facebook page about an unanswered question – you can now be there to take care of your customers. More and more people are airing their grievances on social platforms. These grievances can all be opportunities to set the record straight. If you do it right, you may even be rewarded by seeing your customers show the love as well.
How exactly can social media help to grow your business?
Much like anything else, you’ll have to decide how much time and money you’d like to allocate to your social media marketing efforts but the following steps are pretty much essential:
Create a Google+ Page (Especially if You Run a Local Business)
We all know that Google is basically everyone’s go-to search engine so it makes sense that they give importance to their own social network, Google+. As a result, you have to make sure your Google+ page is up to par, especially if you’re a local business. This means proper contact information, a solid profile background and avatar.
Plan and Execute a Content Marketing Plan
Some simply put it as “start a blog” but we all know that creating successful content is much more than that. You need to plan and organize everything – the content you create should support your business goals. If you’re hoping to become an industry leader in the your space in an effort to gain more clients, share information that would be most useful to your demographic. You have to understand how to use header tags to help your content show up in search, create a content marketing calendar to keep your efforts well organized and post consistently.
Good content is what keeps the wheels in motion when it comes to social media. Your social media campaigns are essentially pointless without it. It doesn’t come easy either at first as you really have to dig deep for it but content that excites, evokes emotion and inspires your target audience. This is the type of content that is shareable. You have to remember to keep the content fresh as well. Doing so ensures that your site won’t be left behind in the search ranking dust.
Master One or Two Social Media Channels Instead of Trying to be a Jack-of-All-Trades
Ask your digital marketing agency or social media manager/coordinator which platform is best for your brand. Instead of half-assing everything, instead try to focus your efforts on one to two platforms your target audience is active on. If you’re a small business looking to market a visual product, consider investing money (along with utilizing Facebook Ads) for Facebook and directly target your demographic. If you’re a restaurant, maybe Pinterest is your best play. You may have to play around some, but when things click, everything will go smooth.
Make Sure No One Is Imitating Your Brand
If you don’t have the resources to manage multiple social media campaigns, at the very least search for your company’s name and variations of it on the social media platforms to make sure no one is posting as your brand.
Hand It Off To Experts
If you want your business/brand to have a more active social media presence, consider handing the work off to an expert. There are several freelancers and agencies that specialize in social media marketing. If you do decide to hire someone, the one recommendation we have is to try and find someone that also understands content marketing, SEO and web development since all of them are intertwined.
Shay Masand
I like to call myself the 'cool guy' in the office, even though all of my work is virtual. If internet marketing is the jam of business these days, I am the nutella.
If you’re in the marketing industry, you likely read the title and are jumping off your seat pointing the blog out to someone you know or nodding in agreement. On the other hand if you’re a business owner, you’re reading the title and you may or may not agree but you look at things slightly different – knowing that every dollar counts. Is it worth investing in social media? Sometimes it’s hard to justify and fund an effort if you aren’t sure about your ability to create immediate new leads or sales. Despite that thought, businesses (both small and large) are investing heavily into social media. So why exactly are they doing this? Let’s take a closer look to figure it out:
Should You Invest in Social Media?
Traditional marketing efforts such as print ads still play a large role for many businesses today but they lack the certain element that has become a big part of social media: the ability to share marketing messages with your target audience.
No longer do we have the days when you’re in your office wondering whether someone saw your billboard or advertisement in a newspaper or magazine. You can now use social media to create lists and groups comprised of your ideal customers, use social listening to understand what your audience wants and share product information with them. If you’re really dedicated, you can even dispel rumors about your company and straighten up any misconceptions, both of which can lead to new customers in some cases.
[irp]
Here are a few ways for you to do that:
Social Listening and How You Can Take Advantage of It
You may be sitting there and wondering what “social listening” is – it’s simple though, it’s the act of keeping an eye out on your industry and your target audience’s conversation. On Twitter for example, you can search terms that are important to your business. If you’re a company that sells wine, you can search the #wine hashtag on Twitter as well as terms common to your industry such as #thirstythursday, #wineoclock, #foodie, etc. You’ll see real-time conversations that people are having about these topics and you should be able to learn a lot from that.
Twitter isn’t the only place you can take advantage of social listening. You can look up popular accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see if there are best practices that you can put in place as part of your strategy. Furthermore, social media gives you the best insight into the activities and strategies your competitors are utilizing.
Organize Your Efforts by Creating Lists and Groups on Social Media
After you’ve done some social listening, you can try to organize your efforts by creating private lists on Twitter. The list can consist of all of the people that seem notable in the space including influencers, products that are being promoted, etc. This will give you all of the insight you want to keep track of at your fingertips – information such as what gets shared the most, what your audience wants, etc.
Those of you who have active email lists can consider creating a Facebook group where you’ll share new product or service information, maybe even a discount. You can use a Facebook group to discuss trends in your industry, positioning yourself as a thought-leader in the field. It’s obvious that the more your audience trusts you, the more likely they are to purchase your product or service.
Share Your Story on Social Media with Confidence
Before social media and content marketing efforts, your company was at the mercy of the media. You could spend your time crafting the perfect message but it’ll be publicized the way everyone sees it, if at all. You don’t have to hope for lady luck or seek out journalists anymore.
You can go back to create compelling content on your website that provides useful, timely information for your audience. Think of what is most important to your customers and become their go-to resource, afterwards use social media to share your content. Build relationships with influential people on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn by sharing their content and providing them with content you think they’d like. You’ll be given the chance to build your brand the way you think it should be built.
As mentioned before, social media is becoming a powerful way to combat misinformation. If you’re not active on social media, your customers and potential customers could be talking about your brand and you wouldn’t even know it. If it’s someone tweeting about a bad experience or perhaps they’re sharing a post to your inactive Facebook page about an unanswered question – you can now be there to take care of your customers. More and more people are airing their grievances on social platforms. These grievances can all be opportunities to set the record straight. If you do it right, you may even be rewarded by seeing your customers show the love as well.
How exactly can social media help to grow your business?
Much like anything else, you’ll have to decide how much time and money you’d like to allocate to your social media marketing efforts but the following steps are pretty much essential:
Create a Google+ Page (Especially if You Run a Local Business)
We all know that Google is basically everyone’s go-to search engine so it makes sense that they give importance to their own social network, Google+. As a result, you have to make sure your Google+ page is up to par, especially if you’re a local business. This means proper contact information, a solid profile background and avatar.
Plan and Execute a Content Marketing Plan
Some simply put it as “start a blog” but we all know that creating successful content is much more than that. You need to plan and organize everything – the content you create should support your business goals. If you’re hoping to become an industry leader in the your space in an effort to gain more clients, share information that would be most useful to your demographic. You have to understand how to use header tags to help your content show up in search, create a content marketing calendar to keep your efforts well organized and post consistently.
Good content is what keeps the wheels in motion when it comes to social media. Your social media campaigns are essentially pointless without it. It doesn’t come easy either at first as you really have to dig deep for it but content that excites, evokes emotion and inspires your target audience. This is the type of content that is shareable. You have to remember to keep the content fresh as well. Doing so ensures that your site won’t be left behind in the search ranking dust.
Master One or Two Social Media Channels Instead of Trying to be a Jack-of-All-Trades
Ask your digital marketing agency or social media manager/coordinator which platform is best for your brand. Instead of half-assing everything, instead try to focus your efforts on one to two platforms your target audience is active on. If you’re a small business looking to market a visual product, consider investing money (along with utilizing Facebook Ads) for Facebook and directly target your demographic. If you’re a restaurant, maybe Pinterest is your best play. You may have to play around some, but when things click, everything will go smooth.
Make Sure No One Is Imitating Your Brand
If you don’t have the resources to manage multiple social media campaigns, at the very least search for your company’s name and variations of it on the social media platforms to make sure no one is posting as your brand.
Hand It Off To Experts
If you want your business/brand to have a more active social media presence, consider handing the work off to an expert. There are several freelancers and agencies that specialize in social media marketing. If you do decide to hire someone, the one recommendation we have is to try and find someone that also understands content marketing, SEO and web development since all of them are intertwined.
