WHY IS SOCIAL MEDIA IMPORTANT ?

The purpose of social media marketing is to build a brand and increase a brand’s visibility, through building relationships and communicating with potential customers.

• Facebook is the biggest and arguably most powerful social network in the world with 1.55 billion active monthly users. Regardless if you are a startup or fortune 500 company, you need to be on Facebook and start *engaging with your consumers. (*Positively… We don’t want to replicate Amy’s Baking Company’s mistake)!
• Twitter is known as the ‘‘in the moment’’ platform and boasts a respectful 255 million active monthly users. Twitter is a perfect online marketing tool for businesses that want to reach out to people (and are ready for a reply). The key is to be quick and smart, ever heard of ‘dunk in the dark’?
• Instagram is a visual platform designed for customers to post, share, comment and engage through digital media. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
• LinkedIn is regarded as the professional social networking site. LinkedIn largely focuses on b2b marketing rather than b2c.
• Google +, Youtube, Foursquare and Pinterest are other social network sites that harshly miss out on the list.  And then there’s Snapchat, the new kid on the block, who recently recorded six billion daily views.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

• Set Goals –Start big and work down. Do you need to increase customer loyalty?
• Know your target audience –Don’t just use demographics but expand with psychographics.
• Social Media– Decide on which digital media will help you connect with your audience. Will this take the form of a blog, video, podcast etc?
• Social Network Strategy –Focus on a social network that adds value. Just because a network has over a hundred million active users doesn’t mean it will directly contribute to your brand’s objectives.
• Measurement and Testing –What does success mean to you? You need to constantly analyze your social media strategy to understand how effective it is. Engage with your audience, find out what works and what doesn’t.

HOW CAN SOCIAL MEDIA BENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS?

• INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS:

o   Introduce people to your brand! If you’re active on multiple social media platforms—and you’re posting interesting content—people will begin to recognize your brand in other situations, or perhaps recall your company’s name while they’re thinking of your industry or products.

• IMPROVE BRAND LOYALTY

o   Are people willing to choose your brand over the competition on a consistent basis? Or would they be willing to switch to another product or service if it were cheaper or newer? When you think of companies like Nike, Apple or Starbucks, you’ll notice their customers are extremely loyal and consistently choose them over the competition no matter what. Building that type of brand loyalty doesn’t happen over night, but social media can help you get there a lot faster. You have the ability to consistently interact with your audience, respond to questions in real time and build a tribe on different platforms.

• SHARE CONTENT FASTER AND EASIER:

o   Interactions with customers on social media are on public display. One of the strongest social media marketing benefits includes this: the chance the showcase your positive customer service efforts.

• INCREASE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE:

o   If you struggle with generating organic traffic to your website from sources like search engines, social media has the potential to be a golden ticket to more traffic. If you gain a dedicated social media following, you can anticipate regular traffic to your website when you share something new or interesting.

• BUILD A COMMUNITY OF DEDICATED FOLLOWERS:

o   Social media revolves around the idea of building an online community. Whether you’re an individual or business on social media, you can build a community of followers as long as you

• Post interesting, relevant, and not all “you-focused” content
• Make posts regularly to stay in front of your followers
• Answer questions and respond to comments quickly, and politely
• Engage with those who have mentioned you or messaged you in some way
• DECREASE YOUR MARKETING COSTS

o   Social media is free!

• FIND OUT WHAT YOUR COMPETITORS ARE DOING

o   Gain key information about your competitors. Based on your search results, you can improve your business to offer product enhancements, service, or content that they may be missing.

With those in mind, you’ll be a social media expert and have invaluable web marketing tools under your belt!