3 Tips for Starting Your Social Media Marketing
If you are still “testing the waters” when it comes to social media marketing, you are behind the times. Social media marketing has matured passed the trial-and-error phase and has become a critical component of any online marketing campaign. Some web marketing experts have even said they would be willing to give up their website over their social profiles if they had to choose (not something I would recommend doing, for the record). The point is that just about everyone knows they need to get a social media marketing campaign under way, but many are still a little fuzzy on the hard details.
Here are 3 tips to better manage your social media marketing campaign:
1. Create bios first
Every social network, big or small, lets users create a profile description about themselves. However, each network has a very different idea about the kind of information you get to share and how much space you have to do it in. Look at Facebook and Twitter, for instance. Facebook gives you a practically limitless amount of space to introduce your company and your brand. Twitter gives you about two sentences. To both streamline the process of creating social networking profiles and guarantee that the information and messaging are consistent, develop several different profiles of varying lengths before you begin your campaign.
2. Decide who will be your “voice”
Just about every marketing department has a viable claim as to why they should manage your social media marketing campaign. PR claims they should be in charge because they are used to being the public voice of your company. The SEO expert says he should be in charge because he knows how to use social media to create a strong link portfolio and online brand presence. The creative team, brand manager and so forth all have similar reasons. It doesn’t matter who you decide to hand the reigns to, just make sure you make someone in charge of and accountable for goes out through your social profiles. Having one person in charge will make sure your branding stays intact and your messaging consistent.
3. Branch out from the Big 3
You have to be on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, but that doesn’t mean you only have to be on those networks. There are literally hundreds of smaller, niche networks for you to develop a community. Just because they are small, that doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable! There might even be a social network that directly appeals to your audience, potentially making it more powerful than any other network you could join. Just remember that if you join a network, there is much more value in taking the time to actually build a community around your brand. If you just are creating profiles to get a link, you aren’t doing much to add real value to your campaign.
These 3 tips are just to get the ball rolling on your social media marketing campaign. Obviously it takes a lot of work and time to manage a successful social media campaign. But that is a blog post for another day.
7 Responses to “3 Tips for Starting Your Social Media Marketing”
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Spot-on @Nick! I agree here totally…
And here’s a further question in this same social media arena – what are the 3 best Social Media monitoring tools to help you use metrics to measure your (or your client’s) online rep?
Would love an answer to that one…
jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for reading and your comment/question.
I use a combo of:
Google Alerts
Trackur
Hootsuite
Take Care!
Nick
[...] How to get started. So you’ve made the decision to move ahead with a social media campaign for your business. But where do you begin? Social media marketing, like everything in your business, should be implemented systematically. Here are some suggestions about how to get started on a social media campaign and how to implement the proper steps. Search Engine Optimization Journal [...]
[...] How to get started. So you’ve made the decision to move ahead with a social media campaign for your business. But where do you begin? Social media marketing, like everything in your business, should be implemented systematically. Here are some suggestions about how to get started on a social media campaign and how to implement the proper steps. Search Engine Optimization Journal [...]
Nice post! I’m the social media guy for our company (just appointed) and it’s quite difficult to begin a social media strategy, mainly as our demographic aren’t on social media in a big way (the over 50s)! However, I’ve started implementing those 3, so it’s good to know I’m on the right track.
Thanks for sharing
It’s nice to hear someone else mention branching out from the big 3. I think this vital step is all to often over looked by Social Media Managers. I realize it can be a bit overwhelming, but once you have a system in place and are doing well with the big 3, branching out to niche communities is certainly worth the investment in time!
Thanks for sharing Nick! As uaual, you are spot on!
Dear Nick,
I enjoy reading your posts because they act as cushions in case any newbies tumble. (Yes, like toddlers who need support to crawl, stand and then take their 1st step) At times, its alarming because there is so much to do and other times, it gives a feeling -”okay, I am in track”
Thanks a bunch
Best
Nayanna Chakrbarty