Here are nine social media marketing (SMM) principles that you should follow if you are not doing so already.
Following these nine principles is vital if you want to turn your fans and followers into customers.
Start
The best time to market was yesterday. The next best time is now. Stop procrastinating. It is the reason starting lies at the centre of this social media infographic. Because without starting your marketing efforts, nothing else can be achieved.
Start with a plan. Before you create marketing campaigns, consider your business’s goals. Start with your primary objectives for using social media platforms. What do you desire to get out of your participation in this form of marketing? Which social network sites you should us? Set SMART goals that make sense for your company and start with a plan. Start small and be selective on the social networks you will use as part of your social media strategy. You don’t have to open an account on all social networks under the sun. Learn everything you can about your audience and the social networks they hang out with their friends and loved ones.
Here are nine social media marketing principles that you should follow if you are not doing so already. Click To TweetListen
Pay more attention to listening than talking. SMM is not about talking about your brand 24/7.
Social listening is when you track your social network platforms for mentions and conversations related to your brand. Then you analyse them for insights to discover opportunities to act. It refers to analysing the conversations and trends happening not just around your brand but around your industry and using those insights to make better marketing decisions. It requires using technology (paid and free tools) to monitor keywords across social networks. When listening closely to social networks, you will uncover what is being said about your brand, who is saying it, on which platforms, how often and who the leading influencers are. It helps you discover what your current and potential clients are saying online. Then, you turn this information into specific marketing strategies to help you get your product or service to the most interested potential customers. Social listening is essential to your SMM strategy, and therefore it occupies much of the social media infographic below.
Organisations share their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. Click To TweetLearn
Based on what you hear others in your niche or industry discuss, you can learn a lot about the latest trends and happenings in your industry.
You will learn to understand the social marketplace, build strategy, plan and execute effective campaigns, analyse successes and failures, and implement improvements. You will also master multiple platforms, social media advertising and social media management tools to create posts, and so on. Learn the impact of social media on the world and explore how you can use it in your personal life, career and business. Learning from your marketing efforts is essential, so it occupies a strategic place in the social media infographic below.
Focus
The next in line among the essential social media principles in the social media infographic below is “focus.” SMM is not about posting on anything that tickles your fancy. Pick a topic and focus on becoming an authority on that topic.
Social listening is essential to your SMM strategy, and therefore it occupies much of the social media infographic below. Click To TweetWith SMM, you can easily target those you think will be interested in your service or product. Active marketing on social accounts will cause many shares, likes, and comments to your content, making them more visible in the news feed. Being everywhere is not an SMM strategy. It would be best if you focus on it. And as you are focusing, use your experience, market best practices, and data to show your focus’s logic and strategy.
Quality
Pay attention to the quality of your community. Regarding social media engagement, it’s better to have ten real and engaging fans on Facebook than 100 fake, automated or ‘purchased’ fans/followers who don’t give a damn about your brand.
Quality-not quantity-is the name of the SMM game. Therefore, it occupies a prominent place in our social media infographic. Poor social content is memorable — audiences will remember not to engage with you! Find content marketing strategy tips for social media. Your SMM content is a direct representation of the quality and tone of your brand. That’s why it’s essential to keep a consistent look and feel in the design of all your marketing collaterals.
Social sharing involves sharing content from a website on your social media accounts or using appropriate social media tools to share your content. Click To TweetContent
In SMM, content is king. Focus on providing valuable content to your social media channels. Even if your types of content do not go viral, don’t give up.
In SMM, we build content to fit the chosen social platform’s context: brief messages in the 280 characters range for Twitter; contests, quizzes, and games for Facebook, etc. Here, brands model their behaviour after that of the individuals using social networks. If you have a company blog, share the articles to your social media feeds with direct links where you can. You can repurpose blog posts sharing company news, open job postings, and industry developments to share on social media. For Instagram, post appealing on-brand visual content and graphics that fit the content. Content curation is an excellent digital marketing strategy to use on social networks, but it also can be time-consuming. It is essential to check your social analytics to ensure that curated content is engaging and effective and not to stop your content creation process. Plan your social content and build a social media calendar.
Poor social content is memorable - audiences will remember not to engage with you! Find content marketing strategy tips for social media. Click To TweetPlain
Whether you want to be weird, shocking, unconventional, or just plain friendly, the choice is yours. Just don’t be boring. I’ve found that being plain, sincere and transparent in your social media marketing works best. Therefore, it merits a spot in our social media infographic.
People always appreciate a brand that is sincere about its dealings. Be understandable, honest and transparent. Think twice before you tweet or post any content, especially when you’re engaging in influencer marketing. Once it’s out there, it isn’t easy to erase. There will always be a record of it somewhere.
Share
Social sharing involves sharing content from a website on your social media accounts or using appropriate social media tools to share your content. Organisations share their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. Therefore, it earns a spot in our social media infographic.
But what if you don’t have any quality content to share? Share other people’s content! Yes, once you find a piece of content that would be of value to your community members, share it, be retweeting, reposting or linking to it. Always give credit to the original owner, creator or source of the content.
Participate
Take part in conversations with people in your online communities or other communities to which you belong. Remember to take part and do not promote yourself or your brand shamelessly. When on social media, avoid the hard sell. People come to socialise and not to do business. So you have to respect the wishes of the people in your online communities.
If you have a company blog, share the articles to your social media feeds with direct links where you can. Click To TweetInfographic
Share this Image On Your Site
Plan your social content and build a social media calendar. Click To TweetConclusion
Is there any vital principle of social media marketing or any social media tips that we omitted? Let me know on Twitter @mauconline.
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