Social media is a powerful tool. Many people are well aware of this and with the 1.6 billion people on Facebook, surely that is enough to at least

Transcription

1 Social media is a powerful tool. Many people are well aware of this and with the 1.6 billion people on Facebook, surely that is enough to at least consider being there to promote your business?

2 Today, social media is not just for free, but it s the layer from anything to everything around marketing and online media. You re not isolated, you re communicating with like-minded individuals. The first step with social media is to understand how to use it. How do you know if you re using it correctly? I ve met numerous people that have stopped using Facebook because they got bored of Facebook. Anything can be boring if you don t understand it. The key behind it is to understand it, then you can be able to use it to your benefit or your companies benefit. Turning social media into a marketing platform? Just as much as you know your target market in traditional marketing, keep that flow going. This time, apply your understanding into social media. Research who your online market is, and know when they re online or when to advertise the required content. Never settle for less, it s better to bombard your page with hundreds of content than to have no content at all. Do you want your business to grow? The only way to grow your audience figure and brand is to market relevant content that reaches the public. Before you have consumers, you ve got to have a public or an audience. So you ve got to promote information that relates to the audience. After you ve built trust, you can go ahead and enhance your product. Reality is, technology is changing the way we live, it s nothing new, but it s new to businesses and individuals. You ve got to have a strategy to tackle social media. Why do you need a social media strategy?

3 It Gives You Direction Taking the time to think about your social media marketing strategy will help you figure out what your overarching business goals are. It Helps You Get to Know Your Customers After even a few months of good social media management, you ll start to think about your social following like an old friend. You ll have a good idea about what it likes, what it doesn t, what it s interested in, and what it s passionate about. It Keeps You Competitive You may not be pursuing a social media marketing campaign, but one (or, more likely, more than one) of your rivals almost certainly is. And they re probably more than happy to soak up as much of the existing online market share as they can.

4 It Improves Customer Service and Communication The instantaneous nature of social media means that its one on the best places to get feedback about your business in real time. Your followers will talk about you with others, message you directly, and take part in conversations with other followers. It s Cost Effective Although the monetisation of social media has begun, social media marketing is still incredibly cost effective when compared to traditional marketing methods. And, in fact, the monetisation of social media has led to platforms offering marketers a whole host of incredibly powerful tools in order to justify the cost.

5 Social Media Strategy questionnaire The Purpose of this document is to understand the industry / business and the objectives of the business online to create a strategy for implementation of the Social Media Strategy. The goals need to be considered when creating the type of messaging, platforms to make use of and the approach to be used when creating content. Name of company Names of members Industry Product What problem does your product / service solve Objectives / Goals Online or Short term and long term business goals Who is your target Market? Gender Age Income

6 Influencers (Key Partners, Industry Leaders, strategic partners) Do you have any social media platforms currently, if so what are they Who are your Competitors Do you have a Website, if so what is it

7 DON'T: Forget the importance of audience - The strategy should be built around what your audience likes and what drives discussions and engagement. A business campaign becomes successful or fails depending on how the fans and followers buy into their strategy. DO: Have a clear understanding what you are using social media for Businesses must know what they are using social media for before they begin.