How To Create Social Media Marketing Success

Last week, I gave you 16 ways social media marketing is different from traditional marketing. Now, it seems, I’ve started a trend of others posting on this topic. Inbound marketing, is really just a collection of tools designed to DRIVE targeted traffic to your website and most of these tools fit the overall notion of social media marketing. So, let’s take a look at what some others are saying about social media marketing (inbound marketing) and how it compares to traditional marketing.

The CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Guide put together by Marketo shares some valuable information — besides infographics are a pretty cool way to share a lot of information really quickly.

How Social Media Marketing Differs

Mostly, this graphic summarizes some of the major differences highlighted in my post — but misses some major issues, such as how to measure success with social media and how important engagement is for social media success.

I do like the idea that traditional media “rents” attention by giving you something of value — entertainment — in exchange. This is more of a similarity than a difference — it’s just the medium of exchange that’s different because in both cases you’re using someone traffic built by someone else. That’s because we know most Fans NEVER return to your fanpage once they LIKE you. So, you’re really hijacking viewers from THEIR network to build your network and share your message.

Staffing and Budgeting for Social Media

I really like this part of the infographic because too many people think they can DO social media with limited staff and no budget. And, that’s just NOT true.

Look at the number of tasks necessary for successful social media marketing:

• creating content
• sharing content
• monitor results
• analyze and optimize results

And, you can only automate a few of these tasks. Most take not only a lot of time on a consistent basis, they take significant training and skill.

Let’s take a look at the each task in a little more detail to see specific skills necessary.

Finding a Theme:

Not only should this theme revolve around readers’ interest, rather than your own, but should support the overall goals of the firm. Content must also fit your overall SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy. Using the Google Keyword Tool can help you pick themes and keywords to drive more traffic to your site.

This requires skills in SEO.

Create Content

While it’s possible to curate content from across the internet, it’s not advisable, especially after the changes wrought by Google’s Penguin and Panda updates that heavily penalize content curation sites. Thus, you need to create original content at least 3 times per week — and more is better.

But, you need more than a journalist for this. You really need someone who can not only write, but understands your target market and knows SEO, since much of SEO is on page.

Share on Social Media

This is actually a misnomer since you not only need to share your content across social networks, you need to build these networks and understand the nuances of each network. While automation can easily handle the sharing part, you need some specific skills to build a network and encourage engagement among members that motivates sharing.

Monitor and Optimize Results

I’m often surprised at how superficial firms’ monitoring programs are. For instance, I recently visited a colleague who only looked at her Google Analytics account every month or so. I look at mine EVERY DAY in an effort to understand what’s driving traffic to my website. That way I can do more of the things that drive traffic.

Monitoring also involves listening — which is important for managing your reputation as well as building your network.

You can automate your listening and monitoring, but it takes human interaction to make these programs work. Skills leading to effective listening are an understanding of Google Analytics and understanding the mechanics of sharing on social media.

Social Media Marketing Success

If you want to develop the skills necessary for social media marketing success, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter, where I share tips, tools, and strategies to make your social media marketing sizzle. You can also grab the first chapter of my new book — Social Media Marketing: The Art and Science of Building a Brand free.

I’ve also collected other great resources for learning about social media. Check out my blogroll at the bottom of this page.

As always, I appreciate your feedback, so let me know what you think about this post in the comments below.

Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter, where you’ll get even more insights to make your marketing SIZZLE

Hausman Marketing Letter

Author: Angela Hausman, PhD     Angela Hausman, PhD on the Web Angela Hausman, PhD on Facebook Angela Hausman, PhD on Twitter Angela Hausman, PhD on LinkedIn Angela Hausman, PhD on Google Plus Angela Hausman, PhD RSS Feed

I'm a marketing professor at Howard University, Associate Editor for the European Journal of Marketing, a guest blogger, and the mother of 3 grown kids, 2 dogs, and 3 cats.  I operate Hausman & Associates, a full-service marketing firm operating at the intersection of marketing and social media.... View full profile

This article originally appeared on Hausman Marketing Letter and has been republished with permission.

Find out how to syndicate your content with Business 2 Community.