A Social Media Marketing Strategy For Success

Top Social Media Marketing leaders and influencers have layed out a 4 step plan, giving you the latest tips & tricks for your business' social media marketing strategy. In today's congested Internet environment, a business can’t survive without addressing the critical issues of online visibility and consumer interaction. No longer can an online marketing strategy be taken seriously without a solid social media presence. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Advertising are quickly evolving into one integrated tactic.

Red Frog SEO is an online marketing firm who specializes in SEO and social media marketing services. Here, you will find answers to key questions about social media networking and an effective social media marketing plan. Lee Odden of toprankblog.com maintains that the answers lie in a better understanding of "searcher behaviors and how expectations have changed as part of the search and social networking experience."

When you consider the "shocking" amount of content being pumped out (27,000,000 pieces/day) to the ever increasing Internet world, getting found online can be a daunting task. In his Content Shock article, Mark Schaefer theorized that the web marketing world is at a point where "exponentially increasing volumes of content have surpassed our limited human capacity to consume it."

So how does a needle get found in the world wide web haystack? Set yourself apart from the crowd by following these four steps to a Social Media Marketing Strategy For Success.

#1 Identify Social Media Goals & Objectives

The SMART approach is a fantastic strategy for fundamental goal setting. This approach is laid out by making sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-accountable. Without goals, a business has no compass by which to gauge its success and no way of determining the return on investment (ROI).

Set goals that go beyond "feel-good" metrics such as "likes" or "retweets." Instead, focus on superior metrics like website traffic referred and leads generated. Any organization should incorporate the strategy of retaining customers and increasing brand awareness while reducing marketing costs.

Keep it simple at first. Having an overabundance of goals may distract, which increases the risk of achieving none! Instead, choose two principal goals and two secondary goals on which to focus. With a few clear objectives, one is more able to react promptly to social media campaigns that are not meeting expectations.

#2 Focus On The Right Social Networks For Your Business

Red Frog SEO has learned that just because a particular social network boasts of billions of users, it doesn’t necessarily mean it's the best platform for the objectives of our clients. We suggest, as an alternative to being "everything to everybody," focussing instead on social platforms that attract your target audience.

Know that each network has both strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, every social media marketer should deliberately choose the right social networks for the company. Thus avoiding the inevitable waste of time caused by being in the wrong place and marketing to the wrong buyer.

Here are some of the most widely used social networks, and resources to give you a leg up when marketing from them.

Social Media Marketing Tips

Facebook: Obviously, Facebook is a social marketing mogul that has tremendous reach to virtually all demographics. There are some correct ways to use facebook, some mythical ways to avoid, and some sophisticated ad marketing strategies that can cause you business to soar, after some required learning and testing.

Instagram: Since Facebook’s purchase of the image and video rich network, Instagram's growth has soared to over 300 million users, 30 billion shared photos, and an average of 70 million photos posted every day! However, there are "must do's" in this environment. Namely, always include relevant #Hashtags, use caption's to your advantage and interact with other users’ content.

Twitter: This social network is most unique, in that it has a language and style different from all other social platforms. On the other hand, Twitter has more automated 3rd party tools and analytics than other social networks as well. Twitter marketing secrets can become less mysterious with #Hashtag research tools, real-time alerts when keywords are mentioned, knowing the best times to tweet, and utilizing Twitters' advanced search capabilities.

LinkedIn: Unlike Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is primarily a business to business (B2B) "professional" social network. LinkedIn is all about career development, professional networking, and industry discussions. Within this community of professionals, your LinkedIn marketing efforts can significantly enhance the growth of your business. Building a solid LinkedIn profile is of utmost importance, and from there you can market your small business and establish your brand presence.

Pinterest: Formatted as a digital bulletin board, Pinterest is a social network that has the potential to generate an abundant following as well as a substantial direct income. Once you understand how to build a Pinterest board and how to optimize your pins and boards, the use of Pinterest's tools will get you on your way to improving your brands' visibility and engagement.

#3 Create a Content Plan and Strategy

So now you need to create a social media marketing plan. What is a social media marketing plan? A social media marketing plan is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve for your business through the means of social networking. Included in this strategy should be an audit of where your social accounts are today, where you want them to be in the near future, and all the tools you want to use to get there.

Optimize your social profiles to meet the needs of your business goals. Optimizing profiles for SEO will help generate more web traffic to your online properties. Take the opportunity to get ahead of the game by outlining your content and posts in advance, using a social media editorial calendar.

Be sure to make your content shareable and engageable. Explore visual ideas to increase your social engagement. This type of content includes images, videos, infographics, contests, and audience polls.

Also, post about current events. By tailoring your social messages to buyer personas, you'll find purchasers who are in the market to buy, but may have not purchased from you yet. The goal here is to find and attract prospects.

A critical aspect of social media marketing is researching your competition. Knowing what works for your competitors not only keeps you aware of their activity, but also gives you insight into what’s working. From there, you can incorporate successful tactics into your marketing strategy. RivalIQ is an indispensable resource for gaining critical insights into your competition.

Lastly, get social media ideas from industry leaders. Use tools to identify your industry influencers. Once identified, engage with these influencers. Susan Gunelius of KeySplash Creative Inc. calls this the "Law of Influencers." Don't forget to "tag" people in your curated content. Ishita Ganguly (@gtinni) writes a compelling piece on giving credit to the source.

#4 Evaluate, Track and Improve Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

Last but not least, you won’t really be able to begin analyzing and improving your marketing efforts until you’ve successfully made steps 1-3 operational. To find out what changes and tweaks need to be made to your social media marketing strategy, you should be continually testing. An important tool to add to your arsenal is the tracking of page visits driven by social media with Google Analytics.

From here, you can analyze and record your successes and failures, and then modify your social media marketing plan in response. Use tools to track progress, such as the Social Media Analytics Tools developed by Sprout Social. The most crucial thing to understand regarding your social media plan is that it should be continually evolving and adjusting, especially as new networks emerge.

Remember that a social media marketing strategy is a plan that is intended to change, so be flexible and welcome these changes. One way to combat "content fatigue" is to reuse content that was successful in the past. Content posting and optimization is also about being smart with your social media marketing. James Scherer of the Content Marketing Institute says, "Rather than devote your entire life to making a single blog article that shines like the sun, my recommendation is to reuse your content intelligently. Work smart, not hard!"

Social Media Advertising Is Set To Explode

Social media advertising has come a long way in a relatively short period of time. In Sonny Ganguly's article, Why Social Media Advertising Is Set To Explode In The Next 3 Years, he discusses why social advertising is more critical today because "Rather than reactively targeting users who search a certain term, social media advertising proactively targets relevant users before they even begin their search.. Social networks are a good option for advertisers because of the advanced targeting options, reliable conversion tracking, and prevalence on mobile devices."

Social Media Advertising Agency

Red Frog SEO is a web development firm that specializes in SEO, Social Media Marketing, Web Design, Creative Design, and Local Business Marketing. Red Frog SEO's proprietary customized Content Management System (CMS), enables clients to have rich and widespread customer Geo-Targeting that is both powerful and profitable.

You can count on Red Frog SEO to stay up to date with the quickly evolving Internet world so that your business has what it takes to maintain an aggressive online presence. Take a "leap forward" and allow Red Frog SEO to optimize your company's web presence today! (888) 984-6879