The digital environment became one of the most important channels through which businesses communicate with their clients. If you want your brand to be a success on the modern market, you should pay close attention to creating a strong social media marketing strategy.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

This concept describes the combination of an economic area and a digital communication environment. Marketing focuses on developing, promoting and selling products or services, while social media is useful as a channel through which a brand can present itself to both current client and potential buyers.

Furthermore, a business use social media networks to address not only to their clients but also to other stakeholders such as employees, business partners, bloggers, and more. During these last years, a lot of successful campaigns were organized online, on social media platforms.

Nowadays, there are plenty of social media networks that can be accessed from a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. There are two kinds of approaches when it comes to social media, that businesses should take into consideration. First, a company can find out a lot of useful information about their potential clients and their competitors only by following some of the most popular social media websites.

Therefore, marketers should do their online share of research when it comes to developing their products and increasing their brand’s awareness. Blogs and forums are places in which individuals give their honest input on brands and companies. This is called the passive approach.

Secondly, there is also an active approach to the businesses regarding social media activity. The online platforms can be used as both public relations tools and as a communication channel. The digital environment lets you specifically target your audience so that you promote your products and services to the right public.

Main Social Media Networks

• Facebook. This is by far the most popular social media platform. There are almost 1.4 billion users all over the globe. It is a great tool for your business to get in contact with potential clients.
• Twitter. This social media site was up and running on 15^th July 2006.
• Google+. It has attracted over 25 million visitors in just one month.
• LinkedIn. In the United States, the number of users that have created accounts on this social media network reached 128 million this year.
• Instagram. This was initially an exclusive iPhone app, and it was launched in April 2010.
• YouTube. On average, a YouTube user spends around 40 minutes watching videos and searching for content.

How to Create a Strong Social Media Strategy?

The key element of every good social media marketing strategy is to engage as many people as you can through your campaigns. You can do this by regularly posting fresh and relevant content as well as responding to followers’ questions and conversations. Making the users to comment or to share your information gives your brand more visibility. Furthermore, this is a way in which the users become more engaged, and they will appreciate a smooth interaction with your business.

Below, you can find a step-by-step guide on how to create a social media marketing strategy:

• Set your objectives. Planning ahead requires having some strong and clear goals. What you need to do in this step of the process is to establish clear and realistic goals. Moreover, your objectives should be S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time manageable).
• Consult your previous results. Keep track of all your previous campaigns and social media strategies. This way you will see what exactly works best and how to proceed further. You can even search online for a social media marketing strategy template, or you can develop one of your customized templates.
• Social media accounts. If you don’t already have a social media presence, go on and create your desired social media accounts. In the case in which you have an online visibility try to enhance it by optimizing your existing social media networks. When optimizing, do not forget to write relevant content. This can help you increase your website’s search engine optimization level.
• Get inspired by your competitors. Look at what your competition does online and get inspired by others. You can find useful advice in your clients’ feedback. Always keep an opened communication with them to receive great ideas on how to optimize and grow your business.
• Planning ahead. Before you implement your social media marketing strategy, create a content writing and publishing plan. Besides your content plan, you should also develop an editorial calendar. This way, you will better organize your content publishing dates and times of the day.
• Real-time optimization. Try to adjust your social media plan during its implementation. Test different version of the same message or strategy and see what works best. You can even try the A/B testing method. In the digital environment, you must always change and update your marketing strategies.
• Find your voice. Before you go and push the “publish” button, you should find your unique and original tone and manner of addressing your public. Make sure that, after you have found it, you stick to it. When defining your voice, you should take into consideration the public you have targeted: what kind of personality does it have and what it would want to hear or read from you. Furthermore, you should also pick the perfect time of the day to post your content. You can find the right time by researching the moments in which your target audience has an increased online activity.

Main Benefits of Using a Strong Social Media Marketing Strategy

• Increased awareness. Using a powerful social media marketing strategy will put your brand on the consumers’ map. If you have the opportunity to enrich your business’ image and increase your brand’s visibility, take it and make the most of it.
• Loyal clients. Creating a strategy that will attract and engage the customers will not only increase your sales but will also develop long-term relationships with your targeted public.
• Conversions and leads. A good and relevant content will determine social media users to convert. Either they sign up for your newsletter, or they purchase an item on your website, a strong social media marketing strategy will be a success. The key to this positive outcome is to have clearly defined goals and to target the right audience.
• Easier communication. Through social media networks, you can easily communicate with your clients and reach your targeted audience. People are more receptive in the digital environment. Therefore, they will be more opened to receive your offers and promotions.

All in all, social media has many free good features and possibilities. However, if you want to attract clients that have a real potential of buying what you offer, then you should also invest in paid options such as Facebook Ads. It does not cost too much money, but the results can be great if you follow all the necessary steps to creating a successful social media marketing strategy.

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