Social Media Marketing Strategies - What You Need To Know

Like with running a marketing campaign elsewhere, you need to have a clear strategy when running a marketing campaign on social networking sites. Running a marketing campaign on social networking sites without a strategy will certainly not produce desired results. Ideally, it is the strategy that should drive your marketing campaign. Your strategy should be well thought out and be effective.

The first thing that you need to appreciate when it comes to setting your strategy is that it what will guide your marketing campaign on social networking sites. It is sort of a plan that shows you the correct path you need to follow in order to reach out to acquire as many business followers as possible in addition to driving social media users to your traditional business website. Failure to have a well thought out strategy in place simply means driving your campaign without any direction and you remain not sure on how your marketing campaign will end up.

The first step toward developing an effective social marketing strategy is in establishing your social media marketing objective. You simply will not be able to attain our marketing goal without establishing your goal. Note that your objective can be to generate new leads, increase number of followers on social networking sites, event promotion, attracting social media traffic to your traditional business website or promoting offerings.

A critical part of your marketing strategy should be to appreciate any effort (however small) your social media followers have made in sharing your marketing posts. It is very important that you employ an innovative way of appreciating your fans/followers for their effort. Use of analytic tools should allow you to ascertain successful conversions and amount of revenue you have generated.

Another critical part of your social marketing strategy should be how to measure your success. Unlike with other marketing channels, marketing on social networking sites is not for the purpose of making sales. This is so because marketing on social media sites is all about social networking. Social media users never visit the sites to shop for goods or services bit to connect with their friends. Your strategy should therefore aim at increasing awareness about your business or driving social media users to your traditional business website.

There are several ways through which you can effectively market your business on social media sites. A strategy you employ should be one that is not only cost effective but also very effective in yielding your desired results. You may need to appreciate the fact that developing an effective social marketing strategy can be a big challenge especially when yours is a small business. This is when the service of a social media marketing company becomes valuable. Although there are many such companies, you need to undertake careful search for the right company capable of developing an effective marketing strategy. Engaging the service of a company does not however mean leaving everything to the company. You need to work closely with a company you choose to engage in developing your strategy.

Promote your website or business in the largest and most exclusive Facebook groups and get maximum exposure for your business.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jon_Amos/139551

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3 Billion Social Shares Analyzed: Lessons From the Internet’s Most Viral Content

by Ashley Carlisle | September 20, 2016

By looking at over 3 Billion article share counts and sentiments across networks and publishers, Fractl and Buzzsumo partnered up for a 2016 reboot of their previous 2014 study to uncover several interesting comparisons and emerging trends regarding social shares. We ended up learning some amazing things

How Social Networks Have Changed over Two Years

The Findings

Even with just a 10-percent increase in two years, Facebook single-handedly dominates the social sharing space, earning nine out of every 10 shares across the networks. LinkedIn had an even larger increase but still gains a minute number of shares – 25 out of every 1,000. Twitter continues its slow and steady decline (losing nearly 30 percent of its shares), but Pinterest and Google+ are in freefall by comparison, with a 70-percent and 93-percent decline, respectively.

The Big Takeaway

A recent 2016 industry report from Simply Measured confirms Facebook still reigns supreme in terms of monthly active users, even in light of new platforms like Snapchat capturing recent headlines. Ultimately, there’s no doubt Facebook has continuously offered the greatest potential for reach and engagement for publishers and brands.

After witnessing the unofficial and slow death of Google+ and the potential threat of Facebook’s algorithm changes, it’s crucial to avoid overdependence on one platform by diversifying efforts across the networks rather than focusing on one. Just like how the social platforms are constantly evolving, publishers and brands will need to adjust their strategies for each platform to maintain and grow their social presence.

News and Niche Sites are Gaining Social Momentum

The Findings

As evident by the increase in total social shares and the diversity of top publishers, niche vertical sites are learning how to create and tailor content for specific audiences. Meanwhile, viral sites trying to appeal to a broad audience like Viralnova are no longer the most-commonly shared publishers. Sites with more targeted audiences like National Geographic and Mother Jones, however, joined the top-20 list of highest-average shares per article.

Even heavily opinionated news sites with divided followings traditionally viewed via other means (like television or print) are seeing increases in their average share count; for articles within the top million, Fox News saw a 114-percent increase in average shares per article, while The Nation saw a 211-percent increase between 2014 and 2016.

The Big Takeaway

If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll become nothing to anyone. This adage holds especially true in marketing, whether it be for publishers or brands. Niche media sites targeting an audience of a specific demographic or with certain interests can develop a strong, loyal following and authoritative reputation through a unique voice and vertical expertise – which translates to more social shares. Marketers emulating this strategy also have the potential to see one additional benefit when investing in niche content: more qualified leads.

Positive Content is Increasingly Seeing More Shares

The Findings

An analysis of top articles for news publishers revealed that the sentiment has shifted dramatically across the board since 2014. Even as more quality content floods more strictly regulated networks, the average share counts increased significantly when publishers shifted towards a more positive approach.

The New York Times saw the greatest change from overwhelmingly negative to exclusively positive sentiments, and at the same time saw an 81-percent increase in average shares. CNN also saw a drop in the percentage of their top articles classified as negative and a 39-percent increase in average shares. Fox News saw a significant shift toward more neutral sentiments that corresponded with a 114-percent increase in average shares per top article.

The Big Takeaway

These findings closely correlate with the findings of other studies that examine the emotions that make content go viral. Overwhelmingly, viral content elicits positive and often complex emotional combinations (like happiness, surprise, and admiration), while strong negative emotions were reported far less. These findings are great news for marketers: virality isn’t a matter of luck, but rather is the result of a well thought out content strategy that appeals to the right emotional combinations.Understanding the target audience is key in obtaining higher social engagement.

Both social networks, as well as the publishers and brands using them, are constantly competing to dominate the internet; rankings are always evolving and never guaranteed. Ultimately, brands should keep a close eye on the networks to determine where their efforts are best spent, and should take note from publishers when it comes to content strategy.

About the Author

Ashley Carlisle

Ashley Carlisle is a Brand Relations Strategist at Fractl, a creative digital marketing agency specializing in data-driven campaigns. She works alongside a team of creative strategists producing innovative studies on the latest industry trends.

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12 Questions to Separate Social Media Experts From Pretenders

Social media takes time. Lots of time. But it has the potential to really build your business and brand.

If your waking hours are needed elsewhere and you don’t have a team member to take over, you should consider using a freelance resource. That may sound like an easy decision, but finding a competent resource is a real challenge.

Many people talk the talk, but very few walk the walk. Alas, the world is full of fast-talking people who know enough buzzwords to convince you to hire them as “social media experts.”

Here are 12 questions I now ask of anyone – whether it’s a potential full-time employee or consultant – who claims social media expertise and proposes to help with social media.

Take this list seriously, because paying someone who does nothing for you is worse than doing nothing in the first place.

1. What was your college major?

Social media management requires professional-level English language and writing skills. First and foremost, it’s a writing job.

While there are always exceptions to the rules, those who didn’t major in English, journalism, marketing, or PR, or haven’t worked extensively in those fields, may not be able to communicate and engage at the level needed to represent your company.

2. What type of unedited writing samples can you share with me?

Everyone has a portfolio; but by the time things get published, editors and copy supervisors have often spent as much time rewriting as the writer invested in the first place (if you want an earful, just ask any editor).

You never want to look at published samples; you want to see the raw copy that was submitted to the publisher. While there may not be writing samples of social media posts, anyone applying for the job should have articles or relevant memoranda to share.

3. What’s your client service experience?

Managing social media requires a good sense of how to do client service and customer service correctly. If you haven’t worked for a company as an account executive, client service manager, customer service manager, etc., you can’t service potential customers in social media.

4. What are some examples of how you have worked to sell your ideas in collaborative environments?

Social media is a collaborative marketing and communications function. How has this candidate led a team, or been a major contributor to one?

Critical here are superior listening skills (as opposed to fast-talking skills). How well does this candidate understand, and work with, the various threads of conversation?

5. What is your experience with public relations?

Look for any involvement in setting up or managing events. Ask to see press releases (unedited examples, of course).

Gauge experience in working with the media and an understanding of how the world of journalism operates. This is critical to developing relationships with the media and getting them to cover you.

6. What is your experience with graphic design?

Ask the candidate to name the graphics programs he/she is proficient in, and to rate his skill level as competent, advanced, or able to teach the course.

Then ask this question: What is the best way to create and add graphics to the top four social networks.

7. Can you answer these questions?

• What is CPM?
• What is CPC?
• What is excess inventory?
• How do you manage content?
• Can you show me an example of a marketing calendar you have done?
• What is a social ecosystem?
• What is a flight?
• How many social networks are there?

These are basic knowledge for anyone laying claim to a social media skill set. If you, the hiring manager, need the answers, contact me. If you’re a job candidate and can’t answer them: You’re not ready to take a paid job in social media.

8. How would you deal with this situation?

This is your opportunity to see how the candidate thinks. Provide one or more social media challenges that need to be dealt with (or have been previously dealt with).

These challenges should relate to your social media goals. Evaluate the level of sophistication of the response.

9. How would you assess our current plan?

Share your social media plan and get live feedback. Evaluate the level of the questions the candidate asks. Don’t provide the plan in advance – you want to see how candidates think on their feet, without outside help.

10. Do you have experience in advertising?

It’s a bonus credential if the candidate has ever bought, sold, or managed media, especially online media. As always, ask for examples.

11. What types of references can you provide, who can address what you have achieved for them?

Perhaps this should be the first question, since if there is no one who can endorse the candidate’s skills and accomplishments, why spend time on the other questions?

12. How many hours do you think this requires?

This is a key question when the social media job is part-time or outsourced. Someone who “practices” social media daily will be able to answer the question of how many hours need to be allocated daily/weekly to everything you need done. Then, it’s up to you to budget for it or review your expectations.

Summary

This might seem like a lot to ask in an initial round of interviews, but it’s better to lose some time up front than lose your sanity later due to a social media pretender.

Any questions you’d add to the list? Leave or comment, or connect with me directly.

Image Credit: Jason Howie/Flickr¸

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