There is something particularly apt about the social media marketing industry, i.e., many businesses in Nigeria still believe that social media might not be a good advertising tool. The fact is that social media marketing offers so many targeting methods that it has become an excellent advertising platform for most businesses.
Social media marketing can work better for some businesses than others; that is what you need to figure out in the first place before you even venture into social media marketing.
[bctt tweet=”Social media marketing can work better for some businesses than others; that is what you need to figure out in the first place before you even venture into social media marketing.” username=”@DMSInstitute”]
There are so many social media platforms you can use to market your business. Try Twitter Video Ads, +Post Ads for Google+ and more to reach your target audience.
For instance, as a rule of thumb, test Linkedin when marketing to businesses and Facebook when marketing to consumers, though many businesses have been successful with Facebook advertising.
However, leveraging on social media marketing can help your business, elevate your audience and customer base in a tremendous way. But getting started without any previous experience or insight could be challenging.
Most importantly, it is essential that you understand the laws and principles guiding marketing. From maximizing quality to increasing your online entry points, abiding by the following ten rules and policies that will help build a foundation that will serve your brand and — perhaps most your bottom line, your customer base.
The principle of influence
Influencers in social media marketing business are vital. You have to spend time, surf the internet and look for great people in different social media circles.
Spend time finding the online influencers in your market who have quality audiences and are likely to be interested in your products, services and business. Connect with those people and work to build relationships with them.
If you get on their radar as an authoritative, interesting source of useful information, they might share your content with their followers, which could put you and your business in front of an enormous new audience.
The principle of attention
Success with social media and content marketing requires more listening and less talking. Read your target audience’s online content and join discussions to learn what’s important to them. Only then can you create content and spark conversations that add value rather than clutter to their lives.
[bctt tweet=”Success with social media and content marketing requires more listening and less talking. Read your target audience’s online content and join discussions to learn what’s important to them. Only then can you create content and spark conversations that add value rather than clutter to their lives.” username=”@DMSInstitute”]
The principle of goal
If you are doing social media marketing, you must have specific goals. It’s better to specialize than to be a jack-of-all-trades.
A highly-focused social media and content marketing strategy intended to build a strong brand has a better chance of success than a broad approach that attempts to be all things to all people.
The principle of quality
Quality content for distribution is usually a key when compared to the large quantity of contents that doesn’t have quality.
It’s better to have 6,000 online connections who read, share and talk about your content with their audiences than 20,000 connections who disappear after connecting with you the first time.
The principle of patience
Before you achieve the desired result in social media marketing, you have to be patient. The fact remains that social media and content marketing success doesn’t happen overnight, you must work for it, and the desired results requires you to be patient.
While it’s possible to catch lightning in a bottle, it’s far more likely that you’ll need to commit to the long haul to achieve results.
The principle of compounding
This sharing and discussing of your content open new entry points for search engines like Google to find it in keyword searches. Those entry points could grow to hundreds or thousands of more potential ways for people to find you online.
If you publish good, quality content and work to build your online audience of quality followers, readers will share it with their audiences on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, their blogs and more.
The principle of accessibility
Don’t publish your content and then disappear. Be available to your audience. That means you need to publish content consistently and participate in conversations. Followers online can be fickle, and they won’t hesitate to replace you if you disappear for weeks or months.
The principle of value
If you are developing a good social media strategy, it must be of value to your followers. This principle is just similar to the principle of quality.
Focus less on conversions and more on creating amazing content and developing relationships with online influencers If you spend all your time on the social promoting your products and services; people will stop listening.
You must add value to the conversation. In time, those people will become a powerful catalyst for word-of-mouth marketing for your business.
The principle of acknowledgement
Building relationships are one of the most important parts of social media marketing success, so always acknowledge every person who reaches out to you. You wouldn’t ignore someone who reaches out to you in person so don’t ignore them online.
The principle of reciprocity
If your content is being appreciated by others, you just have to reciprocate. You can’t expect others to share your content and talk about you if you don’t do the same for them. So, a portion of the time you spend on social media should be focused on sharing and talking about content published by others.
Did you enjoy this article? We give away 98% of our digital marketing resources for FREE. Right now, I want to prove that to you, join our community right now for FREE access to our actionable digital marketing resources to help you increase your sales and customer base online faster. It is absolutely FREE.
You can read more about social media marketing here