Tips designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your social marketing plan.

Social networking was created as a platform for business and individuals of similar minds, interests and needs to connect and interact.  However, in time, it developed into a market – a huge, immense, unlimited market – wherein literally all products or services can be sold and or purchased.  Modern technology and the internet has taken the business of buying and selling to new, high, unprecedented heights and across unimaginable frontiers.  Limits and restrictions that were previously native to traditional marketing have literally disappeared with the advent and present level of social marketing, to the point that no meaningful business, no matter the size, can ignore the benefits and usefulness of social marketing.

Tips for Social Marketing

As with most things, Social marketing has its “dos” and “don’ts.”  In this article, I will be discussing tips that will help you in launching (if you are new to social marketing) or improving your social marketing status and effectiveness (if you are already a social marketer).

1. Clearly Define Your Product or Service:  Clearly identify what product(s) or service(s) you plan on selling online. If you are not sure what to sell, you can employ the use of software tools that can help you identify the top and high selling products online.

2. Brand Your Products: Once you have identified or defined your “goods,” you should develop a brand for them.  Branding makes your “goods” unique, outstanding and different from other products.

3. Identify and Locate Your Potential Buyers: Identify those who need your products.  Who are they (nurses, new mother, automobile owners, etc.)?  Find out demographic data about your potential customers (such as gender, age, profession, their social network platforms, etc.) and use such in planning your marketing strategy.

4. Identify and Monitor Your Competitors:  It is important that you find out who your major competitors are.  What are they doing differently and better than you (such as advertising, promotions, offers, discounts, etc.)?  You can learn a lot to improve your social marketing strategy by identifying and constantly monitoring your competitors.

5. Use the Right Platform:  As social media terrain is wide, it would not be wise for you to commence your marketing campaign simultaneously on all or most of them.  Find out which social platforms your purchasing customers and possible new customers are on and establish your presence on those platforms.

6. Develop Eye-Catching and Impressive Ads:  Your ads consists of written content, pictures, graphics and videos.  Use them wisely and effectively and create meaningful content that is focused on reaching your target audience.  Ensure that your content is continually revised to make it current and relevant to your business and your customers.

7. Track and Measure Your Engagements:  Ensure that you establish, put in place and regularly review unique data, statistics and reports that will assist you in monitoring and reviewing not only your sales performance but also the effectiveness of your social marketing strategy.

8. Use Effective Tools: With the scope and volume of social marketing, it is not possible for you to adequately track all that you need to ensure a successful marketing strategy.  Find, purchase and utilize one or two viral or social marketing tools that are appropriate for your needs and operations.  These tools have been developed to help you achieve your social marketing goals faster and more efficiently.

9. Promotions, Rewards and Giveaways: Design and put in place befitting loyalty rewards for clients for milestones they achieve (such as referring or introducing a certain number of new clients, making a pre-determined purchase target, etc.).  Whatever your customer loyalty reward system, ensure that it is transparent and authentic.

10. Feedbacks and Comments: Create a forum to enable your customers interact with one another as well as give you feedback on your products and services.  Monitor such conversations and implement a follow-up system that allows you to address and resolves concerns as well as improve products, services and operations from comments and feedback given.

Social marketing is here to stay.  These tips will help you get on board and assist you in implementing and or improving your social marketing plan.

Positive Words Research – Social Marketing Tips

Social Marketing Tips