Social media is the order of the day, if you are not online then you are not anywhere. You have a great business, social media marketing and management you have designed an effective plan and implemented it successfully, you have carefully hired a skilled and professional team of employees, are offering premium services and products and to top it all, your customer care unit is beyond fabulous but, how many people know about all this? If you are among those people that think that having a great business will drive consumers your way then you are wrong, it is just not enough. Your great business will stay in dark and ‘behind the scenes’ until you tell your potential consumers about it eChromatics Web Solution. 

Social media includes all the social platforms that people use for their personal and professional means and therefore, it should be a part of your corporate business plan. Just like any other department, your social media planning and marketing team should be sufficiently skilled and experienced to bring the desired results. Social media marketing is a marketing platform that is focused on the working of several social media platforms and includes, sharing of content, pictures and videos and increasing traffic through consumer interactions and brand awareness. Now the question is, why do you need a well-planned social media strategy for your business? A simple answer to it is that you have a business that you need to market and social media is the key to it.

What to add in your Social Media Strategy

To have an effective social media activities and results, you need a detailed and clear strategy to follow, at this stage, it may seems difficult and you may have the urge to start the activities straight away , but wait, without a plan your activities will lead to nowhere. Therefore, before getting started, create a path, following are the main things to be considered and added in your social media plan:

What are the Goals

What do you want to achieve from your social media activities? The best way to answer the question is to have an audit of your business and see what are the gaps that you need to fill through the social media and plan accordingly. Some of the most common things that businesses want to achieve through their social media marketing activities are:

•         Increase in Business
•         Brand awareness
•         Interaction with their Consumers and Clients
•         Acquiring New Clients
•         Retaining Old Ones
•         Increasing Traffic on Website and Blog
•         Increase in Conversion Rate

Do the Research

Without knowing your audience and consumers, you cannot serve them better, before initiating the activities, research your audience, always remember that your efforts will not be rewarded if they are not according to the consumers you are addressing. Make a comprehensive plan having age, gender, geography, likes , dislikes and interests of the people you are targeting. When you will have all the required information at hand, you will be able to design better messages and engage your consumers in a better manner that means increased conversion rate and better customer relationship.

Make a Content Strategy

Content is the most essential need of any business and it has become even more important after Google has started showing interest in it. While designing a social media strategy, build a content strategy plan also, what, when and how will you share on the social media platforms, everything should be added in it. Design an editorial calendar and fill it with interactive and engaging topics, divide it into days and start posting according to it. Track your content’s success and make the required changes in it, an upside of making a content strategy is that once you have made it, you will not need to brainstorm the ideas every time you want to write and post something, just get the topic from the calendar and start.

See what Works for your Competitors

It is important to see that what your competitors are doing after all, they are your biggest coaches and teach you some of the most significant business lessons. Interact with your competitors through their social media platforms and see how they respond. Do not stay away from your competition, this is a mistake that many businesses do, instead stay as close to them as possible. Visit their website and social media profiles and see what strategies they have implemented and how have they affected their business. Keep an eye on both the factors that work for them as well as those that did not and learn from their mistakes.

Fix your Budget

Whatever you plan to do, it should fit in your budget, while planning social media activities, keep an eye on the budget and decide that how much you are willing to spend on your marketing activities. Make a list of the marketing mediums that you want to use and maintain your budget according to it, some of the most effective forms of marketing are:

•         Pay Per Click (PPC)
•         Email Marketing
•         Print, Radio and TV Advertising
•         Affiliates Program

You can employ other forms of marketing also that suit your business and social media needs but the key is tracking, track the progress and make the required changes, repeat the process.

Benefits of Social Media

Social media offers a number of benefits for both personal and professional use and you can also make use of unprofessional ways to gain potential benefits. To personal level, you can stay connected with your friends and family and increase interaction by sharing things that you care about. To ma professional side, you can use the same sharing feature for connecting with your consumers and keep them updated about all the happenings of your company. The more you interact, the more your audience will trust you and want to stay connected with you.

Given below are some of the potential benefits of making social media a part of your marketing strategy:

It Increases Brand Awareness

You have a good following and people know about you, great, but why not increase their knowledge by staying connected with them on social platforms? Despite of being a great business and having loads of customers, it is still possible that your consumers do not know you well. Social media interaction is your chance to bring them closer, you can share your business’ ideals, visions, how you care about your clients and customers and how you plan to serve them better are some of the things that every consumer wants to hear. Other than existing customers, having a social presence opens road to new consumers and business opportunities.

It Increases Traffic and Conversion

Social media presence plays a vital role in increasing traffic to your website and blog, after writing a new article or blog, share it on your social media platforms and initiate communication. Increased traffic also means that there are higher chances of conversion, whoever comes to your site will visit the site, your services and products and therefore, there are chances that they become your clients or sign up for the newsletter. Both the outcomes are beneficial, you can use the mailing list addresses for your backend marketing afterwards.

It Builds Customer Loyalty

Everyone wants loyal customers but acquiring them is a bit tricky, you need to build a strong relationship with your consumers if you want to make them your loyal clients and social media interaction is the best medium for it. Brands having loyal and returning customers build the relationship by interacting and communicating with their consumers. They tell them about the new arrivals and revive the old posts by having interactive polls, some companies also devise such ways that keep their consumers in the ‘loop’ or the process, which makes them feel cared and wanted. Customers will love to stay with you if you show them that you care for them, give them the reasons to love you.

Better Learning and Improvement Opportunities

When you interact with your audience, you give them a chance to talk to you, you share about your business and they respond. Such communication is healthy and necessary for your business’ growth and improvement also, who will tell you about your products or services’ shortcomings? Of course your consumers, ask questions like are they satisfied with you? Will they recommend you to their acquaintances and how can you improve your services? These questions will spark communication and you will get many ideas as to how to improve your services and serve your consumers better. You can also use the data in designing your next product or service and share the knowledge on social platforms, wouldn’t it be nice when your consumers know that you take their views serious?

What Social Media Platforms to Include?

There a number of social platforms that you can use according to your business needs and requirements, but because each of the platform works you will need to design different strategies for them. Following are some of the main social media platforms and a brief account of the way they work:

• Facebook:
  Everyone loves Facebook and hence, being on FB is a must. The platform offers a simple way of setting up a business page but you will need to be extra careful in designing your page, make it as visually pleasing as possible. Keep the tone light and conversational and share your business’ related news, articles and blogs, images and videos on it. But don’t just sit afterwards, initiate conversation and be interactive.
• Pinterest:
  Pinterest is a great medium for photo sharing platform, while this may not be useful for everyone but you can still share the photos of your company, company’s special events and product and service offerings. You can also create your very own pinboard to assemble a distinct voice for your brand and business.
• LinkedIn:
  LinkedIn is more of a professional network, which means that it has quite a lot of potential to benefit your business in many ways. Join LinkedIn Groups and communicate with like minded people, you can share content and follow Influences to get in touch with other followers. Recommendations is a great LinkedIn way to build your reputation as an expert, as k your clients and consumers to write recommendation on your profile. To build trust factor, you can also go to the Questions section and give useful answers to gain trust and good reputation.
• Twitter:
  Twitter is all about Tweets and being actively communicative, tweet about the latest news, company events, new offers, discounts and updates about your products and services. Tweet as much as possible, on an average, it is recommended that you post 5 to 8 tweets a day and give answers of someone asks you something or your customer has said something nice. Bottom line is, be as much communicative as you can.

Social media offers great opportunities to market your business and expand its horizon but it also needs considerable care and thought while designing and implementing the strategies. There are a number of social media platforms present but, instead of being overwhelmed and employing each of them, see what are potentially beneficial for you.