One of our local clients just jumped into Social Media Marketing. The campaign was launched prior to the new website. The campaign was supposed to run on Social Media first, building the audience for the website launch. Unfortunately it took a few months to get the website launched and when it finally was revealed it was not mobile-friendly.
Things change fast in the digital world, and business owners that don’t stay up-to-date with the current trends or be left behind their competitors. However, because business owners are also dealing with their own industry changes, finding the right marketing professional might be the best thing they can do to stay current.
In the meantime, here are a few things that business owners must address:
Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-friendly
Google announced that on April 21, 2015 it would no longer recognize websites that were not mobile-friendly. No matter how much you do to the site to get SEO if it is not mobile-friendly it may not be found in a Google mobile search. Shortly after this Bing followed suit with its own announcement about mobile friendly searches. (This is a big deal since more than 50% of Internet searches are now done on mobile devices.)
Check to see if your site is mobile-friendly with this Google Tool.
Choose the Appropriate Social Platforms for Your Marketing Efforts
Each of the Social Networks is different. While some get you SEO, others have a direct line to specific demographics. Choosing the top 3 (Facebook, Twitter, Google +) is always a good choice, but if you have a younger demographic you are selling to you might want to look at Snapchat or Instagram. If your products or services are more crafty or DIY you may want to use Pinterest. That being said, with over a billion members, most businesses can’t afford not to market with Facebook. Content should be posted daily. Twitter is a very popular site with people following key words, topics and hashtags. And tweets are now indexed on search engines. Google + has not turned out to be the “social juggernaut” that Google hoped for, but for SEO, it is still extremely important. Finally, other platforms that attract your sales demographic should be used in your overall marketing strategy. Today’s Social platforms are now more also routinely used as places for businesses to broadcast company, industry and product information; customer reviews; referrals; questions, and as a real time customer service venue. People expect companies to be “social” and are keen to interact with them in many ways.
Commit to the Campaign.
Nothing is worse for a company’s image than an abandoned Social Site. Customers expect sites to be constantly monitored and want almost instant responses to their comments and questions. If you are going to launch a Social Media Campaign you must be consistent. Aside from customer frustration, competition for space on Facebook is becoming fierce. If you are not consistently posting updates and eliciting activity from friends of your page, you may find that your posts are not being presented to your audience.
Keep updated on changes.
The one constant in the world of Digital Marketing is change. Not only are new sites constantly coming online, but existing sites are constantly tweaking their look, their rules and the algorithms that dictate who sees what posts. The strategy you came up with two months ago may not work today. Also, if you are not keeping up with and following the rule changes, your account could be in danger of being shut down – or being punished by having your posts ignored. While each Social Site does announce rule changes on various blogs and other publications, busy business owners will find it incredibly difficult to follow all of them.
Mobile Devices and Social Media have been around for a few years now and the trend shows no signs of being the fad that many pundits predicted. As more businesses join the social world and more social sites burst onto the scene, finding someone who can guide you through the digital maze may be the best marketing money you can spend.
Don’t Make a Mistake!