Introduction
Now that we know what social media is and why it’s essential for your business, it’s time to find out how to successfully launch a social media campaign. Here are 5 tips to help you build a great social media presence.
1. Define your strategy
Your presence on social media is essential but it’s just as important to – before anything else – define what objectives you wish to achieve. Ask yourself the following questions: Do you want to increase the number of your followers or make your brand more prominent? Participate in online communities? Share your content or offers/promotions? Stimulate traffic to your website? Increase the number of sales and prospects? Provide online customer support?
Even though social media can affect almost all areas of your company, it’s important to determine what you wish to focus on before you start a social media campaign.
2. Select your social media platform
To identify and select the social media platform that is most suitable for your business, it is important to determine what you want to use social media for. There is no one-size-fits-all: a mechanic, a restaurant owner, or someone responsible for an online store would all use social media differently. For example a florist or a painter can easily use visual social media like Pinterest or Instagram, but this would be more difficult for a dentist.
Popular social media platforms:
Twitter: your activities/instant messaging
Facebook: what you like/follow/share
Google +: similar interests/circles of contacts
Foursquare: your location/geolocation system
Instagram: for your photos
YouTube: for your videos
LinkedIn: for your professional skills and network
Pinterest: for tutorials / tips / ideas
Tumblr: to write and post articles
3. Work on your content
You should share quality content on social media and your publications need to provide added value for your customers. This can be anything from promotions, news, and articles to photos or videos. Make sure that the content shared is linked to your company and your company’s values. Try and share new content at least once a week on all your social media platforms. There are tools like Sprout Social or Buffer that can help you publish new content on all social media accounts simultaneously.
4. Show commitment
It’s important to be visible on social media but it’s also important to commit your company to good causes that connect to your business’ values (like, for example, nature conservation) and that are connected to your activities. You must create a community. The commitment improves customers’ perception of the brand, their loyalty, and your business’s "word of mouth" – an oral or written recommendation from customers to other prospective customers. You should also take time to interact with your customers and show them that you are interested in their questions and comments. This way, they’ll see that you’re invested and pay attention to what is happening in your business’s community.
5. Analyse your campaign
Make sure to analyze the impact of your publications and the reaction of your customers after a few weeks. Collect feedback and comments, the number of shared publications/when your company was mentioned, if your discount coupons were used and by which users, if more people follow your social media pages, etc. Google Analytics is a very practical tool that allows you to see which social media brought visitors to your website.
Examine the data you collect and determine whether you are achieving the objectives that you set for yourself and use your findings to improve your next publications.
Free Download PDF