Most companies understand that social media marketing is now crucial to the success of their brand online. After all, a 2013 SocialMediaToday.com article about 2014 marketing strategies mentioned that:
- Companies plan to increase their budgets for social media marketing by 50 percent in 2014.
- More than 50 percent of marketers said they’d found a customer via Facebook in 2013, while 43 percent said they found a customer by way of LinkedIn that same year.
So social media marketing must work, right? Yet you’ve been posting and sharing and liking and tweeting for several weeks and you’ve seen little results from your work.
Why does it take so long to see results?
Many experts believe results start to appear from a social media campaign within about six months. Six months?! That’s a pretty long time to be forking over hundreds of dollars in either your time or to a social media marketing firm. So why does it take so long to see results?
Social media marketing provides exceptional long-term benefits. How? Social media gives your company long-term brand-creating juice, allows you to build communities of brand advocates, helps you to become an authority in your field, and creates a snowball effect of influence that will build an audience of followers, friends and, eventually clients.
Create a great social media marketing campaign and the momentum that grows your brand, influence and followers will grow. Momentum, however, does take time to build; hence the six-month time frame.
How do you create a great social media marketing campaign?
- Your first step is to create a solid social media marketing plan. Who is your target audience? Where do they hang out (are they on Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social media platforms)? What action do you want them to ultimately make? Every goal should be measurable.
- Make sure the content you provide to them in posts, contests, videos, blogs, infographics and other types of content is enticing. People don’t share the blah.
- Post regularly. Share regularly. Don’t stop after just three months.
Remember that when it comes to seeing measurable results from your social media marketing efforts, you must be patient. Marketing via social media is not “the goose that lays the golden egg” the first day out. It’s more like purchasing a gosling, nurturing it as it grows,then reaping the benefits when the little goose has had time to mature. Nurtured and fed well (in the form of great content), your infant social media marketing campaign will grow into a marketing vehicle that will provide measurable results for months and years to come.