Blog, Livejournal, Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte – all these are social networks, in one way or another suitable for creating an information flow, to which, like bees to honey, subscribers-friends-visitors will arrive, who will become that social group of potential consumers of services or product of your company. This is the essence of social marketing. Previously, these were thematic forums, they remained, but there, practically, all niches are already occupied, so social marketing is now most relevant in social networks.
The basic principles of SMM or social marketing are as follows:
- Create an information flow (blog, Facebook page, Twitter account)
- Collect consumers of this information flow (customers and potential customers)
- Maintain information flow (new messages)
- The product or services of your company inextricably permeate this information flow (general
- topics of technology, discussion of real solutions)
- PROFIT (customer flow or understanding how, where, when, and to whom to sell a product or service)
In the future, I will use the social network and Twitter and blog in the same way: this is the social network where you promote your company (or are going to promote).
Some ideas that are used in social marketing:
1 . Simple, nevertheless, one of the main messages – write on a social network (marketing) a post not so much about your company or a new product, but focus on information that your audience would like to know. That would be interesting to know. Put yourself in the shoes of your friends and followers. Write not necessarily about your company’s product, but perhaps about technologies or interesting (funny) facts related to your products or services in one way or another.
2 . Constantly analyze and measure how effective (ROI – Return on Investment) the promotion on the social network with other types of advertising, for example, simple traffic to your site, contextual advertising, or SEO-promotion (search engine optimization). It is more convenient to do this for the reporting period. Ideally, it is best to use the numbers of actually attracted clients, but for this, you need to know exactly where the client came from. It is often impossible to find out even after interviewing the client – he may simply not remember what attracted him and where, because he saw the site, the Facebook page, and offline advertising.
3 . The frequency of your blog or social media page is important. This means posting as often as you can. Of course, given the factor of interest. That is, there is no need to post 20 messages a day that does not cause anything in readers except an urge to unsubscribe. Just like posting one message once a week, sluggishly warming up your audience with something interesting. I think one message a day would be reasonable. Plus or minus. You can write to your social network more often if your company really has something to say. Otherwise, it’s best to collect and write interesting content on a distracting topic to prepare for tomorrow’s post.
4 . Don’t overdo it with hashing the content of your post (for example, on Twitter). Studies show (no, not British scientists;)) that hashed messages are clicked 5% less than without hashtags. This does not mean that hashes are not needed at all. But they are not always needed. And if needed, then no more than 1 hashtag per message
5 . Do not try to follow more accounts on Twitter (following) than they follow you. Otherwise, search engines will mistake your Twitter account for search engine promotion and lower your ranking. That is, you should always follow more. The same goes for blogs with their friendliness.
7 . Use the community to solve problems using your product or service. Discuss different use cases with specific examples, real examples. Don’t use abstract applications of your product (like from a brochure) – no one cares. On the contrary, solving real problems often causes remarkable discussion and revealing some of the disadvantages of your technologies (well, where can we go without them, but there is nothing to worry about because the original task is being solved).
8 . Think of marketing as a story or a fairy tale;) and clients as the heroes of this fairy tale. Think about the motivations of the characters. Let your characters lead the story and think about what they want and need.
9 . No depression, no messages that you lost 5 kg of weight, and, of course, no boastful messages about you (I climbed Everest), even the most modest ones. Leave everything personal about you to yourself. Personality in a blog is needed, but within a professional framework, that is, the maximum-minimum of your persona. Be behind the scenes if you write interesting, it will only stir up interest in your blog and you.
10 . What should be the promotion strategy on your social network. The answer lies in the answer to a few simple questions: Who do I communicate with on the blog? What do these people want to hear from me? How will this strategy develop? There are no clear tactics or tools here. It is rather a collection of ideas about how your blog and the consumers (your subscribers) of your company’s services or products are connected.
11 . Remember that Twitter, Facebook, Odnoklassniki and other social networks are not a strategy, but only a tool for building a community. The main thing is exactly the messages that you write. Yes, there are some peculiarities and prejudices, for example, it is generally accepted that VKontakte is a “shkolota”, and Odnoklassniki are their parents, then this is far from so unambiguous. The further you go, the more blurring the boundaries will be. Therefore, the entire promotion strategy cannot be built on these messages.
12 . Choose for yourself what interests you first of all from your Facebook page or blog: increasing sales in the company or market research based on community reaction? This will be the main strategy for your blog. In the first case, measure the conversion of real customers, and in the second case, study the trends of ideas and thoughts of the community.
13 . Keep track of when posts appear on your blog: time of day, day of the week, day of the year. That is, write messages at a convenient time for your readers. Also, so that your message does not get lost in the multitude of messages for each user. It is better that your message is read with a fresh mind in the morning, and not in the late afternoon when many have a brain full of current work.
14 . If you put like buttons on your company’s website, then give those who click “like” an incentive.
15 . If you made a mistake on a social network, do not try to blame everything on hacking your account. Admit your mistake – it will increase the level of trust of your readers.
16 . Use your Facebook page to explore your prospects more. Ask them how they found out about you or your company.
17 . The main three universal ideas for your blog: offer a new opinion about something (about a new car, a new camera …), create a list of the most interesting or the best from your point of view (the best beaches in the world, the highest mountains …), teach your readers do something interesting (how to cook pilaf, how to photograph a beautiful portrait …).
18 . Include social buttons like, follow, share, and links in all your sites, your emails.
