Tips for Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy

To turn your firm’s social media presence into a true revenue generator, you need a social media marketing strategy. While followers and website traffic are important, the true goal of any corporate social media campaign is to cultivate leads and conversions that drive business growth. With an effective social media marketing strategy, your firm can market products and services to a more targeted pool of customers than possible through many other traditional marketing techniques.

Your organization’s social media community is at once both a carefully selected group of interested customers and a readily available focus group. Smart businesses capitalize on this resource to inform and drive their overall marketing strategy, using the available data to determine what customers’ needs are, who they turn to for advice, and how they reach their final decisions. Ideally, a firm will curate their marketing content across channels to create a consistent brand message and customize content for different audiences.

A successful social media marketing program encompasses several key best practices

• Know Your Audience: As with all marketing, it is crucial to have two fingers on the pulse of your audience. This means understanding your audience’s challenges and priorities. Matching your marketing to your customers’ concerns is a surefire way to increase interest and generate leads.
• Find Your Influencers: Your firm’s current and potential customers will often turn to influential subject matter experts when evaluating a business strategy or purchase. Establishing a reputation with influential experts builds brand credibility with their followers—effectively identifying and engaging these influencers is critical to the success of your firm’s social media marketing strategy.
• Choose Platforms Wisely: A scattershot approach to social media marketing is not always the most effective. Your business only has a limited number of resources to dedicate, so it is smart to identify those platforms that align most closely with your existing customers and future targets. Focus on mastering these core platforms before experimenting with others.
• Set a Schedule, But Be Flexible: Consistency is key with any good social media marketing strategy, but flexibility is also important. Create an internal content schedule to ensure a steady stream of content, bolstered by research into the most active times and days for your social media audience. At the same time, don’t be afraid to capitalize on news and announcements (respectfully!) to promote your brand. The Oreo “Daily Twist” campaign, which featured 100 days of pop culture tributes from the gay pride parade to Elvis is a good example of this tactic when properly implemented.
• Integrate: Don’t isolate your social media marketing strategy from your broader marketing efforts. When appropriate, seek to employ social media as an extension of mail and email marketing, advertising campaigns and even public relations activity. Experiment to find what works for your brand, and seek out complementary content and marketing tactics.

Developing a Stronger Social Media Marketing Strategy

At Walker Sands, our social media experts can help your business take your customer engagements to the next level. We can help you identify and engage with influencers, drive website traffic, leads and conversions. Call us today at (312) 235-6173 to learn more about how we can help develop your social media marketing strategy.