SMM – GOODPOSTS

SMM – SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

When it comes to social media marketing it is no longer a question of “if” but rather “how”. Once upon a time people thought Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc. to be the tools of the teenage mind. A ways for entertainment and amusement, it is safe to assume no one predicted the marketing potential or the mammoth entity that consists of inexhaustible opportunities to sell create, buy, interact, react, share information and so much more. The stats speak for themselves,

Facebook has over a billion active users around the globe.
Twitter sees around 200 million active users on a monthly basis.
LinkedIn too has seen 200 million monthly active users.
YouTube has seen over 800 million users being active monthly.
Google+ has 135 million active monthly users.

With such overwhelming numbers, it is naïve to consider a business or any virtual presence without engaging via social media. Now, with these possibilities, what are the options of SMM? The demand of most companies is developing the best kind of SMM, but what is the best strategy; one that generates immediate traffic or one that consists of a symbiotic relationship between SEO and SMM?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. The best kind of social media marketing is propelled by a meaningful and engaging approach; it not only generates traffic but also trust. The options are limitless but that is precisely why marketers need to be vigilant when it comes to their tactics. With each passing day the search engine giant (that’s Google off course) makes rules and regulations more air tight. False back linking, fake guest posts, void accounts, fake social media likes, creating and working a thousand useless twitter feeds etc. all of this is just another example of bad strategy. This not because it will surely get you penalized by Google but also because such strategies do absolutely nothing for a website in the long-run. Every website tries to cut corners at one point or the other. However, the mistakes made by marketers hang the fate of a website in precarious balance. Think about your current social media strategy, are you keeping it legal, are you treating your social media marketing seriously, are you trying to make your web presence more engaging or relatable? Here are a few essential dos and don’ts of the SMM industry.

HAVE A PLAN

SMM - SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING — SMM – SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

It is important to consider the importance of SMM. You cannot take this nonchalantly SMM is no different from formal marketing in terms of strategy. You need to make an articulate plan to help you set milestones for yourself. Create a web presence that cannot be ignored and that does not mean simply “hash tagging” your way through your personal account.

Your first step should be identifying what are your immediate and long-term objectives, when it comes to social media marketing? Pinpoint your aims so that you know whether or not your work is creating the necessary ripples. Many businesses’ inaugurate a social media presence, because it’s the market trend. But who will use it, who will manage it? What will determine whether or not there is a purpose to the SMM plan? Spend time generating a social media marketing approach that can be worked on. Move forward with a team that can meet your goals.

SMM TAKES TIME

Even an average Facebook user spends more than five hours every day, engaging and interacting. So know that you are being lied to if any marketer tells you that for an effective SMM strategy you only need to spend, say, half an hour on your page. No! This could not be further from the truth, on an average any web presence demands that around 15-20 hours be invested in the SMM.

True communication via social media can be a hard approach for many marketers to control. Discovering the precise poise of self-promotion and exciting content; that stimulates action can be very influential in using social media correctly. Take some time to remark or interact with your present clienteles and potential clients to demonstrate that you’re there, and you care. Show them that what they say matter to you. Ask engaging questions, answer emails, respond, respond and RESPOND!

IF YOU CAN’T FIND PEOPLE WHO CAN

Now that we have established how important it is to interact, the next matter is do you have the time to maintain a social media presence? Most business owners do not have the time or energy to answer mails, take orders and maintain a consistent, engaging web presence that is optimized! Generally SMM is not something that a single business owner can tackle on his own and it is foolish to think you can.

The internet is full of reputable service providers that create the right balance of content plus a social media presence that is engaging. One such firm is www.buxup.co.uk . A team of professionals steering your content and keeping your social media pulse from flat lining is a blessing because that puts your mind at ease. Instead of trying an amateur hand at managing SEO and SMM, it is better you hire a good team to look after it all. This is one avenue where money spent is never wasted.

DON’T BE MONOTONOUS

Yes Google rewards you with higher rankings if you keep your content and your SMM relative to your niche. If your posts are valuable insights in to a certain topic then the search engines will reward them consistently. This is a great approach but, it is important to be thoughtful about the way that you are creating content. A spattering of the same information over and over again will bore your audience and they will not expect anything fresh from you. Getting traffic to your site is relatively easy, maintaining it however is a completely different ball game. Be sure to change features of your posts in order to either focus on diverse material within a post or aim to cater to particular slice of your audience.

Monotony is usually the death of a site. Without good, new, original ideas SMM cannot be done.

GO FOR DIFFERENT NETWORKS

With the way social networks and media sources are growing it is better to not restrict yourself to a single network. It is good if you can have a twitter account, a few videos uploaded on YouTube, have connections on LinkedIn, have a solid following on your Facebook page etc. The market reach is limitless, the results too can be far better than when they are if you are not bound by a single social identity.

However, this requires commitment; you did not research and locate ten new social networking stages to sign up your business on, just to ignore these accounts later on. Your marketing team should be assigned to “making” your presence on these platforms. You can’t make an account and let it gather dust. If you cannot pledge to employing a platform on a steady basis and setting it up in a way that noticeably signifies your virtual identity, then what is the point? Doing it to have as many social media accounts as you can is not SMM. A good initial strategy should prevent you from making useless profiles and accounts.

THE PERFECT BLEND

The average social media user has a very short attention span. It is difficult to capture their attention and even more so to sustain it. Very long blogs or post can bore the average visitor. To keep an engaged audience it is important to mix things up a little, to make the perfect blend of:

Engaging content
Infographics
Videos
Short posts
Humorous bit and pieces
Innovative illustrations
Good graphics

Infographics, videos, illustrations etc. have a propensity to be much more sharable and interesting. They provide neat resolutions, small packets of information that satisfies the average social media user. Try to incorporate current media ideas to boost your SMM strategy.

DON’T ABANDON YOUR FOLLOWERS

Lots of companies work really hard to generate a good following and when it is a substantial figure, they abandon their interaction. This is as tactless as it gets, handle these affiliations with the same upkeep that you would your other “business relationships”. Your followers associate your activity with the power and likability of your brand. Regular interaction keeps you on your follower’s mind. Consistency is the only constant in SMM.

If a bad rumor spreads and negativity spreads on your pages, SMM is the best way to control such a catastrophe. Ignoring or deleting bad comments only end up making things worse. But a controlled, respectable response to your followers is what sets things right.

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

With social networks you have the easiest and cheapest way to advertise your brand. Placing your adverts and boosting your posts to generate more likes, clicks or followers, has become standard practice for almost all companies that have an online presence. The cost for these ads is substantially lower than your regular marketing costs and has a good graph for success. SMM has benefits that are more cost effective than the “real world” solutions.

Key hashtags:

#social #marketing #viral