More and more businesses are feeling the pressure to do something more with social media. There are endless things you can do, which is perhaps the biggest hurdle facing businesses. The best way to start is to be clear about your goals. Read about an award-winning social media entry for B2B marketing in the American Marketing Association’s Marketing Excellence Awards. In fact, there is so much to do with social media that it can be overwhelming. If you focus on the needs of your audience, you can’t go too wrong. Putting your audience first answers many of the tough questions. If your competition is using social media and you are not, it is probably time to take the plunge. We’ll show you some of the ropes with this social media marketing guide. Contact us if you have any questions. First: Some Recent Social Media Research We’re big fans of research. We have entire articles devoted to research you can use in your social media marketing plans here and here. The research presented below is distinct from research appearing elsewhere on this site. Most Gen Z Shoppers Say They Often Discover Products on Social Media with respondents saying social is more important than retailer websites (51%) and third-party e-commerce sites such as Amazon (44%). (Data from Sept 5 2018) | via @marketingcharts https://t.co/fvXpveEGeS pic.twitter.com/a3fxLsRe4W — Sky Alphabet Social Media (@skyalphabet) October 28, 2018 For newcomers and others not familiar with how to get started with social media, welcome to our social media marketing guide. We will walk you through how social media marketing can replace many modes of paid advertising and media. The fact is, social media often accomplishes the same thing as advertising but at a much lower cost. Low cost, however, is not free. Social Media Can Be Low Cost But Low Cost Isn’t Free If you plan to handle your social media without outside assistance, you will soon become aware of the time it takes to write and post content. It’s time consuming. If you aren’t interested in writing dozens or more posts, you can always run ads. Running social media ads is actually the best way to reach people quickly and at fairly low cost. Here’s our page on Instagram and other social media ads. With social ads, you decide how much you want to spend; there’s no “minimum spend”. This is great for doing “pilots” which are used for testing an ad before committing too much money. You also have to factor in photography, design, and other forms of creative production. These elements can range anywhere from next to nothing to a huge expense, depending on how you approach your content creation. Considering that anywhere you would advertise you’d need artwork or some form of promotional content, the cost to generate content on social media are table stakes. The clear advantage social media offers over other forms of media is that it is a two-way communication platform. It’s the same as being on the phone with someone or corresponding by email. As a way to engage potential customers, social media can be a great way to go. Social media can also influence your Google and Bing search results so that your business is likely to rank higher when people search for your business or something related to your business. For small businesses social media marketing can replace many modes of paid advertising and media. The fact is, social media does the exact same thing as advertising but in many cases it is totally free. Social Media Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising The difference between social media and traditional advertising is that traditional advertising has a built-in audience. You pay a radio station to run ads because they have access to ten thousand people in the morning when those people are driving to work. With social media you can also pay for a built-in audience, but you also have the (important) option to grow your own audience. When you grow your own audience, this is known as organic growth. It’s organic because you haven’t paid someone else to lend you the audience for a period of time. Organic media is the parent of something known as earned media. We recommend growing your audience organically and then adding paid support at key times if you need some extra oomph. You might want to try a paid campaign during the holidays or before a big wine festival, for example. Step 1: Set Up Your Profiles This is the boring part. Take a picture of yourself and a photo of your business. Start an account on Twitter and try to obtain your own name. Try to avoid anything that includes numbers or underscores. For example, if you have a plumbing company try to use the plumbing company name only. Use @westhillplumbing, not @westhillplumb45. We set up all types of social media accounts for a very modest cost and handle all of the artwork and registration. Pro Tip: Don’t have access to Photoshop?Use Canva to create graphics for your social media accounts. Register on other networks besides Twitter. Definitely grab an Instagram account as well as a Facebook and a Google My Business page. For most businesses, LinkedIn can also be helpful. Especially if you are a sales representative, fitness trainer, real estate or another consultant that works one-on-one with people. Once you have successfully registered on all of the platforms, be sure to verify your account so they know the account is legitimate. (LinkedIn eventually lets you replace your temporary username with one of your choosing). Even if you don’t use all of the social channels it is a good idea to register them to protect your name. It is very hard to get your name if someone has already taken it. Step 2: Grow Your Audience Every small business is well advised to grow a local audience. By local, we mean local by geography. What’s important to remember is that people know other people — connections exist between people … Continue reading Social Media Marketing Guide For Business