Social Media Marketing Strategies

With the influx of different social media tools, there are now so many different ways to target your chosen audience compared to 10 years ago.

When using social media, one strategy is to remember that you can do much more than just provide text-based information, you can post videos, photos, and links to other interesting resources that can add value to your followers.

There are many different ways you can make use of videos, with this and general internet marketing activities such as visual case studies, how-to videos, or customer testimonials.

Photos of you, your staff and maybe even photos of company social events can also be very positive, as users like to see who they are dealing with, it is easier to build relationships with people in the company if they can See who they are and interact with them.

Also, when producing videos, use staff that your customers would see if they walked into your store or office, this helps maintain familiarity with customers and can help build better relationships.

Social media strategies only work if your target audience accesses the medium. To make sure your customers and prospects know you’re on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to tell them. Send a newsletter to your customers and contacts to tell them they can follow you on Twitter, etc. and make sure all printed marketing materials include the URLs of your various social media accounts. Social networks need the social part to work; therefore, you need people to join in order for it to be an effective tool for your company.

Once you have people following you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, you need to keep them engaged. One strategy is to have promotions, little things like posting sales through your tweets or putting coupons for friends on your Facebook page keeps people engaged and attracts more to join.

Social media strategies are slightly different from print or person-to-person strategies. You have to remember that you need to update your information and promotions so that more people want to follow you. It only works if there are members in your online community, so you need to market yourself to your audience so they want to be a part of your community.

The best thing about Social Media Marketing is that it is not only a great opportunity, but it is also one of the lowest cost marketing activities available to businesses today.

Clearly, the way companies use Social Media Marketing will vary depending on the type of business or target market, but companies that really want to compete in today’s markets need to make sure they are making use of these tools. Simply having a website is no longer enough, you need to promote your business to the online world and engage with your target audience.