Brief: Social Media Marketing

Is your company interacting with customers on social media? If not, you are missing out and chances are your customers are, but with your competitors. 

This holds true for both B2C and B2B. After reading this brief, you’ll have an idea of how to begin a social media campaign for your company.

Social media gives companies the opportunity to establish relationships with existing customers and reach out to customers in new target markets. It is a POWERFUL channel of communication and one to consider adding to your marketing plan if you’re not already out there tweeting, Instagram-ing and/or posting to Facebook.

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What is Unique About Social Media?

Social media facilitates two way conversations between companies and their customers to answer questions, assist in buying decisions and/or recommend a course of action, sometimes in real-time; satisfying that instant gratification world we live in today. When executed correctly, this establishes a positive and memorable experience for your customer and strengthens brand loyalty to your company.

In addition, social media has powerful capabilities to target new and existing customers. Many platforms allow you to target consumers based on demographics, location and interests. These interests are key for B2B companies who may initially be hesitant about giving a social network a try. So instead of guessing that 1 out of every 10 cars going down the highway examining your billboard will be interested your product, you can directly target only those who align to your product or service and maximize your ROI. The ability to make changes to top & bottom performing ads based on real-time stats makes pricing competitive.

Keep in mind that as users vary across the various platforms, so do the reasons for using them. So it’s not necessary to establish a presence on every platform. By that same token, treating each campaign as a test is important to the success of your advertising efforts. This mentality conditions you to have hawk-like qualities when watching metrics and encourages you to deactivate those campaigns that are not performing to expectations.

If you are interested in kicking off a social media marketing campaign or looking to improve your current one, check out: Does Social Selling Work? (*hint* You’re Not Really Selling…at Least Not Yet).