Social media marketing plan is an integral part of every business unit. What most people do not understand is that there are several steps needed to attain or build a successful one.Most companies may do one or two of these correctly. Few will go the extra mile and implement all of the four steps needed.Whichever you decide to focus on will depend on the immediate needs of your company and how much you may need to meet your KPIs.What are these strategies?
How To Create A Solid Social Media Marketing Plan
1. Social Listening
Social listening involves monitoring mentions about your company on the web. It can be both positive and negative. It is in your best interest to monitor all of these and keep track of it.Note that there ae several ways to fail on social media. One mistake can bring down your reputation like;
Not answering your social telephone on time and Responding to your audience.This stage (known as the customer service or reputation management) in your social media marketing plan is pure;
Foundational and filled with Expectations.As a company, focusing on social listening will enable you; Solve customer complaints Many customers are now taking to social media to get solutions to their problems. Statistics proves that they get a quicker response from social media than through traditional emails. Setting up a unit to cater for this should be a top priority in your social media marketing plan. Reducing refunds and increase retention Solving customer complaints and satisfying them will help to reduce returns and improve retention (a satisfied customer is most likely to remain and continue consuming your products than a disgruntled one)
Manage the reputation of the company Reputation management , in particular on the web, is on the rise. The size of your business does not play a role here. People will always talk, tweet or share information about you on the web. Comment on your post on Facebook or your blog. It is your responsibility to respond and not avoid them. Identify Product & Content Gap If you carry out the above 2 points, you will realize product gaps from the mentions. What do I mean? Case scenario:You own a restaurant and have lots of customers. They may like your place but need a few more improvement or a few more dishes added to your menu. If you are listening to your mentions, you will pick up these complaints or discussions.To be able to retain these customers and satisfy them, introducing these products or meals ( the ones they talked about) will not only satisfy them but encourage them to recommend you to others)We have discussed conducting social listening as part of your social media marketing plan. How do you do that? Use tools like;
Google Alert Socialmention Keyhole Netbase Brand24 2. Social Influencing
As part of your social media marketing plan, social influencing helps you establish yourself as an authority through targeted shared content. This indirectly affects your sales and your business metrics in several ways including;
Engagement on your social channels Social influencing is more about using the content your content team creates (or your
social media manager) to spread around the information that will lead to authority and trust in your brand.
Increasing traffic to your sites Creating and sharing relevant content that interest your audience will result in the subsequent increase in traffic to your sites. This could be both from your social media platforms and through the web (if it is SEO optimized).
Increase product awareness It involves a proper use of content that enables your followers to understand more about your goods and services. It could be a new product that you want to introduce to the market or an existing one.Performing product awareness campaigns may spark conversations across the web that will lead to increase awareness of your brand. It also helps people to understand what your company is about and enhances your branding.
Contribute To Grow Your Retargeting List Retargeting is a real game changer to business owners. Those who have embraced this technic can market targeted goods and services to those who visit specific pages on their website. This is the most targeted way of engaging with your audience and often leads to high conversion.
Case scenario:Your business is about cooking. You have written a few blog post about Vegan meals. It is possible to place pixels on these particular pages or post and later target (with an offer of Vegan meals) all those who read about Vegan meals on your site.These are the most targeted Ads which marketers use, and they always have a high conversion rate…why? Because you are targeting people with offers that will most likely interest them…Vegan Meals.Have you ever visited a site and later on get Ads from this site when you log into Facebook? Some tools to measure your Influencer rate are;
Kred Klout HootSuite Commun.it SocialBakers Simply Measure 3. Social Networking
Are you growing your network online? Partnering with influencers and earning mentions on the media? This is all about finding and associating with authoritative individuals and brands to establish strategic partnerships. It is about mass media, and that includes;
Radio shows Podcast Youtube Interviews Journalist Newspapers Authoritative sites & BrandsI know you might be asking…why should I do this? ( My introverted mind will ask this too)The reason why you should be doing this is that networking creates connections ( I learned the hard way) The more influential people you connect with, the more you increase your network and expose your business to more people.There are several tools that can assist you to find and connect with influential people. Some of these include;
Klout Kred BuzzSumo Authoritative sites relevant to your niche LinkedIn ( assist you to find journalist for media mentions) Media is anything that aggregates the attention of a definable market segment into a compelling 4. Social Selling
Sadly most business owners focus more on this and tend to neglect the other aspects that make up a compelling social media marketing plan.So how do you sell on social media? Well, the answer is, you dont…atleast not directly!When done right, social selling can assist you to generate leads and sales from social media.The trick is taking people away from social media to your email list. Moreover, you can achieve this by;
Leading with content Everyone consumes content on social media. You want to communicate with them using relevant content to spark their curiosity. It could be on any of your social media channels like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube.Use powerful lead magnets to encourage more to get into your funnel and email list.Also, consider placing retargeting pixels on your blog post to pixel or cookie those who are interested in specific posts on your website.
So why bother about social selling? It helps to generate leads for your business, Grow your email list, Bring more customers to your business and build your brand.There are several tools you can use to achieve your social selling goals like;
Email marketing tools to grow your list, Benchmark Active Campaign Get Response Klaviyo ( excellent for eCommerce) ConvertKit Aweber Landing pages and Optin Forms Thrive landing pages Optimizepress InfusuionSoft Leadpages Unbounce Instapage To conclude, having a social media marketing plan is one thing and generating leads and attaining your marketing goals is another issue.However, you will bear with me that it helps you move your customers or audience from the;
Awareness stage …People who do not know you and have just discovered your brand on social media, Evaluation stage… They know about you and are now considering buying or engaging your services and finally, The Conversion stage… They now know and trust your brand and are ready to join or buy from you.
Evaluating this process will give you more insights on what types of content to create for your social media platforms that will move your audience through this customer journey till they buy from you.
