What Does Ideal Social Media Marketing Look Like?

Imagine this: A sad, abandoned social media account hangs out there in digital limbo. The account has been updated four times since 2011. If you’re very quiet, you can even hear it whispering, “Please…someone… help me….” Everyone who happens to see the account looks upon it with a mixture of pity and worry – if the company can’t keep up with their social media, what else is falling off their plate?

Unfortunately, this is the case for many small business social media accounts. Someone in the company will spearhead the strategy, but then they’ll get busy, and the company’s social media marketing will eventually fall into obscurity.

The good news is that you can bring your social media accounts back to life. Though it’s a lot of work to achieve ideal social media marketing, it’s attainable—here’s how:

CRAFT A STRATEGY

One of the biggest missteps business owners make is unleashing random marketing ideas—“We should start a Pinterest account!”—without  a clear strategy. In terms of social media strategy, you need to first consider who your audience is and determine the best channels to reach them on. Once you understand who your audience is, you can create a social media persona, including a list of the information they find most relevant and valuable and the tone of voice they’ll most relate to.

CREATE AN EDITORIAL CALENDAR

An editorial calendar is invaluable to organizing campaigns, the copy you’ll be using, sources of curated posts, and images and videos. And of course, it also keeps everything on schedule. Everyone on your team can use a social media editorial calendar to get a bird’s eye view of what was posted and what’s coming down the line.

KEEP YOUR TEAMS UPDATED

Everyone will be affected by your social media strategy, from Debbie in sales to John in customer service. Keep everyone dialed into your social media strategy so they know what you’re promoting and therefore what to expect when they talk to clients. Ask your team for their ideas and customer feedback so your company can continue to deliver thoughtful, relevant, and timely information.

USE A SOCIAL MEDIA DASHBOARD

If your social media strategy includes multiple social channels—Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube—a social media dashboard is an absolute must. Adashboard, like Hootsuite or Buffer, allows you to simultaneously schedule posts across platforms, monitor comments and conversations, and track results – from one spot.

CURATE FRESH AND OF-THE-MOMENT CONTENT

Monitor industry news, hot trends, and popular hashtags to find information your audience is craving— or needs to know about. Plus, trending topics allow you to start and join conversations that are relevant to your audience. The more relevant your posts, the more they’ll get shared and the more likely you are to grow your audience and your customer base.

WRITE THOUGHTFUL AND ENGAGING COPY

Whether you’re curating content or creating original posts, write thoughtful and engaging copy that positions you as an expert and your company as an industry leader. Potential clients will flock to your social media channels to learn more.

ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

Let’s jump back to 2006 (the year Twitter was created) for a moment. Would you have predicted that Taco Bell would be posting hilarious content on a daily basis? I know I wouldn’t, but they did—and it’s working!

And the reason it’s working is because they open up the dialogue with their audience. They don’t talk at their customers; they have a conversation with them. This is a critical difference. After all, it’s called “social” media, not “yell-through-a-bullhorn” media.

TRACK RESULTS

As I mentioned above, if you use a dashboard like Hootsuite, you’ll have easy access to performance reports. Keep an eye on the number of comments, shares, mentions, and re-tweets you get. Don’t get discouraged when you don’t see instant results. Building an engaged community is just like building relationships in the real world – it takes time. Give your social media marketing strategy at least six months to a year to work its magic.

Overall, yes, this might seem like a lot to manage, but once the process is nailed down, everything will start to run like a well-oiled machine.

Still not confident you can manage social media marketing on your own? We are offering a three month trial of our social media management service for only $500 per month for the social media channel of your choice. At the end of three months, you will see measurable results! This offer is only good through April. Email us to get started!

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This post was sourced from the Jansen Communications Just Write Blog: What Does Ideal Social Media Marketing Look Like?