10 Tips to ensure your Social Media Marketing Success

Social media marketing seems to be the “in” thing these days, but there are some important things that you need to keep in your mind while you are making use of this in your marketing strategies.

You need to come up with a mental checklist that will let you ensure that all the efforts that you are putting into this campaign are not just goal oriented but also capable of being measured while proving to be successful.

In this article, we will take a look at ten things that you need to keep in your mind while you are developing your social media marketing strategy.

#1 – This is not just an additional platform

The broadcast marketers might make you believe that these social networking platforms are nothing more than an additional platform that will let you distribute your message to the masses. Well, this really isn’t true.

All the different companies and organizations that solely focus on their press releases and also keep talking about themselves will definitely end up as social media road kill.

You don’t want this, do you? Social media happens to be an important platform where you can engage with your existing customers and attract potential customers, so put in some effort and develop an engaging campaign.

#2 – Beware of social media experts

Beware of these so-called social media experts; they are simply sprouting up out of nowhere. Everyone and anyone claims to be a social media expert these days. They all can talk the talk but not many of them can walk the walk.

Simply having the knowledge about how to tweet doesn’t make anyone an authority on this subject. If any of these so called experts can manage to show that they have had years of productivity, have a good reputation, come with good and genuine references and have managed to produce results that can be quantified. Only such a person can be genuinely called as an expert.

So, you needn’t worry and you don’t need a social media expert, as long as you know what you are doing and how to do it you will be fine. Be wary of anyone who claims to be a social media expert.

#3 – Some things never really change

The world of marketing has had a complete makeover; the way it is being approached and looked at has also changed. But there are some things that never really change even after the advent of all the technology.

The good ol’ rules relating to communication, public relations and marketing still hold good. These old fashioned rules can be thought of as the basic ethics and they will never go out of fashion.

It is crucial to know about the dynamics of your target audience, the value that your organization can add to their lives and also your ability to develop and offer such products and services that can satisfy their needs and wants are the areas that you really need to concentrate on. And this information can prove to be very valuable for your marketing campaign.

So, do not stray away from these concepts just because you have opted for social media marketing.

#4 – Social media marketing isn’t only about just Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter

Yes, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are really popular social media sites but these aren’t the only social networking platforms. In fact, they just form a tiny fragment of the social media ecosystem. Discussion forums like TopGoldForum, email lists, podcasts, social bookmarking sites, different video and photo sharing services and niche online communities all form a part of the world of social media.

You need to keep in mind that you haven’t restricted your campaign to just one platform. You will need to make an effort and understand the different platforms that your customers are making use of and start getting involved on those platforms to attract more customers.

#5 – It’s all about creating and maintaining relationships

At the end of the day, marketing is all about creating and building relationships. And social media provides you with all the necessary social media tools and likely platforms for you to get this job done.

But this does not mean that you should ignore the basics things such as one on one personal communication, because this helps in building a good rapport with your customers.

You can’t build a relationship overnight, it takes a while. It is not just about the technology that we make use of; it’s about the human beings.

#6 – It isn’t just about return on relationship

You should be able to measure your success by making use of a mix of qualitative as well as quantitative metrics. But apart from it, you should also concentrate on different aspects such as brand recognition, reputation of the brand in the market and the public’s awareness.

But you should also pay equal attention to metrics such as the money that has been raised, any increase in the number of attendees and subscribers, also any increase in the widgets that are sold and so on. All these things will give you an idea about whether or not your business is doing well.

You will have to be able to track the changes that have been produced by using social media marketing, if and only when you are able to obtain this data you will be able to know whether or not your social media strategy has worked.

#7 – Don’t get carried away

Social media is a powerful tool, but you need to realize that it can help you do a lot of things but not everything. Considerable time and effort should be dedicated to developing a marketing strategy that would actually work.

You will always have to do your bit if you want to achieve your goals. Social media marketing will work only if you have a good marketing strategy. So, put some effort into it.

#8 –  It is not just confined to one thing

There are different elements that you will need to combine in a harmonious manner if you really want your campaign to work. Social media would be just one element; you will have to ensure that all the other elements of the campaign would also go hand in hand with this.

You cannot completely ignore the traditional methods of marketing and should develop a marketing campaign that would strategically involve both the new and the old methods.  You should give equal importance to all the other elements as well, instead of just solely depending on social media.

#9 – Building your brand

Some of the organizations these days are slowly moving away from destination websites and are instead shifting their focus on various community building strategies. If you really want to build your brand, then you will have to concentrate on various other things as well.

It is a really good move to have established your brand on major platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram, but what you need to remember is that these aren’t your only options.

You need to understand that your existing customers, as well as potential and likely customers, might be active on various other platforms and affinity groups that aren’t a part of the above mentioned popular platforms. You will need to broaden your horizons.

#10 Don’t forget to be…sociable

You need to remember that at the end of the day there is one thing that is very important. You just need to be sociable, after all, social media is all about being sociable.

No one and I mean no one would be keen on being associated with someone who is antisocial, not sociable or just keeps broadcasting.

You will need to come up with a strategy that will make your brand seem more socially appealing to your potential customers. It is about creating a good reputation for your brand.