Does Your Marketing Plan Involve Social Media?
We are three months into 2022, so now is a good time to see how things are going with your business as the first quarter winds down.
One of the keys to success for any business owner, be they just starting a business or around for some time now, is having the right marketing plan in place. As more and more companies have found out the last few years, a strong social media component is important to making that plan come to fruition.
For some companies, however, their social media plans are drifting in the vast ocean of the business world, waiting for a rescue in the middle of the night.
Whether it was a lack of resources, a fear of not being able to measure metrics, or clearly not understanding the power of social media, some businesses just don’t get it when it comes to social media.
For some marketers, social media has already led to added exposure and sales. Others, however, have been late to the dance when it comes to adapting social media into their marketing plans. Whether it wasa lack of planning, shortage of faith or a combination of both, their marketing plans have suffered without a strong social media presence.
Does Your Marketing Plan Involve Social Media?
If you’re a marketer that is wondering how social media may or may not fit you’re your marketing plans, consider the following:
LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are reported to have more than 1 billion combined users. Not having a presence on one or all three social networking sites is leaving out a huge piece of the marketing pie;
Social media needs to be combined with other areas of marketing to realize its full potential. If you have a company blog, white papers, podcasts, how to videos etc., make sure to use a number of social media channels in order to promote them;
Use social media to give a personality to your brand. By doing so, you open the door to not only improving relationships with current customers, but also opening the doors to potential relationships with new ones;
If you think the competition isn’t using it, think again. There is a very good likelihood that your rivals are already fully engulfed in social media, so don’t fall behind. As you sit there and ponder whether or not SM is right for your company’s marketing plan, the competition is likely winning over new customers through their social media efforts.
Is Something Missing in Our Marketing Efforts?
If you feel your 2012 marketing efforts are not off to the strongest start they could be, sit down and see what is missing.
Should the answer be social media, there are rather fast and inexpensive ways to fix this matter. Among the means:
Becoming more involved – In the event your company’s marketing efforts are lacking a social media focus, there are simple ways to correct that. WithFacebook, create a fan page that your clients and potential clients can come to in order to learn more about what your business has to offer. As for Twitter, here is a great place to share industry links with articles, guides, surveys and more. LinkedIn works as a great business resource, allowing your company to network with other similar companies and share ideas. Meantime, Pinterest is all the rage these days and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. This site is a good tool for visually presenting your brand.For example, a real estate business can use the site to post photos of available places for sale or rent. In turn, you can market your real estate services to prospective buyers and renters;
Promoting your brand –Social media allows marketers to increase their company’s B2B brand awareness, improve their rank among search engines, and give both current and potential clients another reason to want to come to your company Web site;
Making sure the metrics add up – One issue that marketers oftentimes have to deal with is convincing wary company heads of how social media can be measured. Using tools such as Google analytics, you can see who is coming to your site, where they are coming from, which keywords in items like blogs, online articles and white papers are bringing them there, etc. If the boss says he or she cannot see spending the time on social media because it is too hard to measure, rebut that argument and show them otherwise.
Some “experts” said not too long ago that social media was likely a fad that would have its time, and then disappear. All signs point to just the opposite.
A marketing plan not utilizing social media is one that is likely to be the real fad when all is said and done.
Dave Thomaswrites extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.