Social media marketing is a powerful strategy for getting more name recognition and increasing your market share. One of the beauties of this medium is how easy it is to publish a post or an update. However, for that reason many organizations figure they can connect with their audience whenever they can carve out a few minutes to draft a post. The truth is, it not only matters what you say to your audience, but when you say it.
Most companies today have some form of social media strategy. For your organization, social media might be a key component of your marketing plan (as it should be!), or you might simply write a blog post every few months and tweet once a week. In either case, there are always ways to improve the depth of the connection you have with your prospects and customers. As one of the top HubSpot agencies in Colorado, the first piece of advice we give to our clients is to use HubSpot to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their social media strategy. From there, there are a number of ways to fine-tune your use of social media.
It's true that social media continues to be an asset to marketers every day. Current trends project social media to be viable for marketers for an indefinite period of time. Let's face the facts, social media isn't going anywhere, and if you're not utilizing social, you are not maximizing your potential gain. It's time to get on board and start creating effective marketing campaigns.
Every once in a while we are approached by someone who actually says something like, "I'm really not into all of this social media jazz, but I know we probably need to start doing more of it. So we've been thinking... can you help us develop a [fill in the blank] that will go viral?" To which, I of course, always respond with, "Why of course! We'll get right on that!"
As the year comes slowly to a close, it's important to reflect on our year and work hard to learn from our marketing mistakes. Everyone wants to kick off the new year with a good, solid strategy, and IF this is your goal, you have to really look at the fundamentals of your inbound marketing plan. Aside from making sure you have stellar content, you should also take an in depth look at your social media presence.
Social media is one of the most difficult aspects of marketing in general due largely to the fact that it's an ever evolving beast in and of itself. Everybody makes mistakes on social media. It's part of life! Here are the six largest blunders that many involved with social media marketing are making regularly and what you can do about it.
Everyone knows to some extent that social media ought to be a part of any marketing strategy, but many people think that it doesn't apply to them, or that they're doing so well they don't necessarily need to engage in it. This is really a risky way of thinking. Why are companies content to merely plug along rather than striving to exceed expectations? Is it a time management problem? A problem surrounding the hows and whys of reaching their unique target niche?
Some seem to think that only start-ups and small businesses (or huge brands) can benefit substantially from active engagement in social media. Having a social media presence helps define your brand where more people than ever before can learn about you and engage. Whether your business is B2B or B2C, it's important to look at the rationale behind the necessity of having a social media presence.
If you think Instagram is only for people who want to share photos of their vacation to Mexico or their pet’s latest antics, you need to take a second look. Companies are having tremendous success connecting with their target personas through this powerfully-visual medium. Yes, the Instagram demographic does skew toward the 18–34 year old crowd, but: (1) if that’s your target, bingo! and (2) technology tends to find favor with younger age groups first, but middle-aged and older folks inevitably follow.
Ah, the holidays! Parties, potlucks, charitable events… There’s no better time of year to give your customers and prospects a look inside your organization. But, of course, not everything that takes place now—or throughout the year—is appropriate for posting. That video of your VP of Sales singing karaoke after he’s had one too many glasses of wine at the holiday dinner may seem like great social media material in the moment. However, the next day you might realize that it has cast that person, and your organization, in a negative light.
Are you practicing influencer marketing? If you’re not, you may be missing out on the huge benefits that word-of-mouth can have for your brand. Influencer marketing targets specific individuals, or groups of individuals, rather than an entire market or market segment. These people are selected for inclusion because of the weight their opinion has in your industry. When they talk, people listen.
