Does social media has any real impact on customer purchasing decisions? Do you sometimes question the potential of social media marketing?
We notice, most of our Customers dive into social media hoping to increase brand awareness and acquire more customers. Many are disappointed when it doesn't pan out.
Is having Social Media presence equal to having a Social Media Marketing Strategy? No, it is not.Often companies jump onto the bandwagon of getting Company profiles setup on popular Social media sites, then wait for miracles to happen, and get disappointed when nothing happens.
We repeat, being social is not equivalent to having a Social Media Marketing Strategy. Strategies are never that simple, yet never too complex for one’s reach. Here are the essential elements that differentiate between being on Social media bandwagon and having a Social Media Marketing Strategy.
Identify your business’s social media goals
Goals and objectives guide your social media strategy to help you successfully connect with your customers. Identify those top three goals or objectives for which you want social media to play critical role. Some most important and relevant objectives are 1) Customer Acquisition / Lead generation 2) Customer Engagement and 3) Branding
Identify your business’s Value proposition
Identify one positioning statement that explains what benefit you provide for who and how you do it uniquely well. Let this be the key to your entire Social Media strategy. Imagine you are looking for Visiting card designs for your business. When you browse through, you come across two vendors. Vendor A’s Social media page shows they are specialists in Business cards; vendor B’s shows that they are specialists in business cards, wedding cards, party invitations, party planning, return gifts etc., You are most likely to further browse Vendor A since they are more relevant to what you are looking for. Hence, it is crucial to identify that one key unique differentiation your business possesses.
Develop your content strategy
Carefully design your content strategy, what content to use, where to use, how frequently and consistently your social media content should be updated etc. Your Social Media Content strategy shouldn't just be a plan or checklist of things to follow regularly by a select group of people in your company. It should be a company wide policy embedded in the DNA of all your employees, in order for it to be effective.
Track progress using analytic
It is also essential to check how the strategy is faring. Using a good Social Media Analytic tool is hassle free way of tracking the effectiveness of your strategy. There are several popular, interesting and cost effective Social Media analytic tools like Hoot suite, Buffer etc. Most tools also offer free or trial versions and if you are not sure of the tools, what’s best than using our free and old pal Google Analytic!
Review and revisit your strategy as needed
Market trends evolve and so does Marketing strategies. Based on the need of the hour, Company’s Sale and Marketing strategic guidelines, current Social media marketing effectiveness and a lot of direct, indirect factors, the Social Media Marketing strategies have to be re-evaluated and updated.
More often than not, businesses get engrossed in this Social Media illusion unless they are guided by a well thought out Social Media Strategy. Social Media Marketing has fast evolved from being a Marketing concept to an essential business requirement and to a Science in itself. Businesses often tend to lose pace in this evolution. At Dishah, we work closely with our Customers finding avenues to keep them back on track and give the acceleration needed to match or even surpass their Competitors.
