No matter how experienced you are in the digital marketing world, everyone is prone to mistakes every now and then. At least once a month, we hear about a huge multinational corporation that sent an insensitive tweet or posted something politically incorrect on Facebook and suffered a PR backlash as a result.
For that reason, we thought it’d be a good idea to review some basic principles of social media marketing:
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Never fight with a customer.
You’re aware of the phrase: “the customer is always right.” So, if one of your customers complains on social media about the quality of your product or service, instead of arguing (because you can’t win), take steps to make the customer happy. It’s even easier to direct the conversation off of social media so that there is less visibility.
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Always publish 100 percent quality.
It’s not all about you. People are following you on social media for a reason. They expect to derive some benefit from it. If your posts don’t offer anything of value to your followers, you’ll find yourself losing followers. Do your best to create content relevant to the user rather than self-promoting posts. When you do that, you’ll find that you reap what you sow and your efforts will be rewarded.
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Advertise for full exposure.
Facebook ads might start outperforming Google ads, so whether you’re doing ads to promote content, gain followers, or drive direct sales, social media advertising is a great idea.
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Befriend influencers.
Never be afraid to stand on the shoulders of giants. Use social media to reach out and engage with influencers in your space. You can tag them in posts, and reply to their tweets and updates. It will help your social media and your business grow.
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Highlight everything positive.
Treat social media just like real life socializing: be pleasant and fun. Avoid the negativity. Nobody wants to hear from somebody who’s complaining or nagging about challenges instead of successes. Give your followers an enjoyable experience filled with positivity.
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Know your analytics.
It’s vital to review your analytics regularly because you’ll see what types of posts and tweets generate the most engagements. That way, you can focus on what’s successful in future social media campaigns.
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Social media is always changing.
Technology is evolving and so is social media. Do you think you know all that there is to know about social media? Think again. Your strategies that work today might not work in a year. So it’s best to constantly be in the loop about social media marketing best-practices.
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Be consistent.
The success of social media marketing is consistency. If you post/tweet once a month, you can expect little return for your limited effort. How often you post depends on your industry and target market. A good rule of thumb would be posting valuable content once a day on your social media channels.
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Own a few platforms–don’t try to own them all.
Marketing on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube, and a variety of other lesser-known social media platforms might sound like a necessity. Wrong. Instead, focus on the platforms which are used most by your target audience or else you might become a jack of all trades and a master of none. Maximize your return on investment by using your resources efficiently.
- Your content calendar should be created to attract business.
On social media, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Having a content calendar is beneficial in mapping out important dates such as holidays so you can prepare content ahead of time to reach your target market with theme-relevant promotions.