How Do I Get Started With Social Media Marketing?

That’s a question I get asked a lot — How do I get started with social media marketing?

So, on Friday, I uploaded a new page onto my site called: Marketing Tools to give you both a sequence to get started with social media marketing as well as some of the best tools I’ve found. I’ve also put many of these into a FREE 65-page ebook, although some of the screen shots are a little dated. But, grab the ebook anyway because it gives you great stuff that wouldn’t fit here.

Basically, your tasks to get started with social media marketing are:

1. Create a social media marketing plan — especially including SMART goals. Without this plan, you’re stumbling around doing things on social without any coordination or any notion of where you’re going. You also don’t know what to measure.

2. Create a website with a blog or add a blog to your existing website. Now, I know a number of experts who’ll try to say you don’t need a blog. But, there are lots of ways a blog helps make your social media marketing sizzle.

• It establishes you as an authority
• It helps your SEO and the impact of fresh, valuable content on SEO increases every time Google updates its algorithm.
• It helps answer questions before someone buys. According to Salesforce.com, customers are 75% or more of the way toward deciding on a purchase before they actually buy in a store or from a salesperson. That means they use your website extensively to learn about you and your brands BEFORE they buy.

3. Create your social platforms. Which social platforms should you use to reach your goals? That depends on your target market, your brand, and how much time you have. I normally recommend several platforms to help expand your reach.

4. Optimize your social platform profiles and your website with effective keywords discovered in the social media planning stage. But, be careful to not overdo it or you’ll get your hand slapped by Google — in terms of lower ranking.

5. Support your social media marketing campaign with other elements such as content marketing, advertising, and PR to help build traffic and convert traffic once it gets there. See the graphic to the right for elements to consider in your campaign.

6. Post frequently to your blog and social media platforms. I believe your posts should create value, but be easily digested and light. It’s OK to joke around a little, even in a B2B campaign such as this one. I also believe you should build engagement by being human, not a sterile corporation. I think it’s OK, even necessary to share some personal things. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to share every bit of minutia, like what you had for breakfast. But, letting people know what’s going on in your life helps them engage with you, I think.

7. Measure. It’s not enough to plan an efficient social media marketing campaign. You need to assess how it’s doing so you can tweak your content, sharing strategy, or other elements to optimize your results.

Need help getting started with social media marketing?

Whether you need a complete social media marketing strategy or some consulting to optimize your existing social media marketing, we can fill your digital marketing funnel or developing a market information system that matches your needs. We can help you do your own social media marketing better or do it for you with our community managers, strategists, and account executives. You can request a FREE introductory meeting or sign up for my email newsletter to learn more about social media marketing.

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