4 Steps to Social Media Marketing

4 Steps to Social Media Marketing

 

Content Marketing is any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of media and publishing content in order to acquire customers. In this new world of online sharing, creative interactive media and reviews accompanied with an increase in competition in almost every sector, consumers feel they have a choice on who to buy from. The way to win the hearts and minds of the masses is to provide the best content, so that your target market will want to hear what you have to say. Content marketing has one major platform...Social Media!

 

Upside Down Iceberg, a social media marketing firm, put out a YouTube video explaining how to do social media marketing, they suggested a 4 step method which I think is a great start to providing quality content and managing it well:

 

1. Find people who are interested: join social media groups, like and follow related products and if your interested in it surely you must know other people who are?

- These people now KNOW you

 

2. Deliver Quality Content:

- Share your idea, vision and philosophy

- Share relevant content in the form or articles, photos and videos

- Get your friends to share it.

- If people like your content and your idea you can head to the next step, if not, treat it as market research and formulate your product into something they do want!

- They now LIKE you

 

3. Capture Information:

- Get them to like you, follow you, add you to every social media channel at your disposal (Share and like competitions)

- Ask for their Emails, and promise no spam of sales material, only quality content!

- Do not spam your customers, you don't want to annoy them! Why not send them one or two emails with content you have tailored personally from them, attempt to customise your product to them based on what you know about them! (e.g. assess their Facebook likes)

- They TRUST you!

 

4. Stay in Touch:

- Reply to all your social media channels quickly, 24/7!

- Continue to create content and invite these people to share and like this content

- Customer retention is far easier than obtaining new customers

 

So now you target market knows, you likes you and trusts you, and your staying in touch with them...as long as you also provide a good service and don't spam them, they will most certainly give you good reviews. They will recommend to friends and share their reviews on Facebook, and you will obtain new customers through word of mouth. Sound good?

 

Do not be fooled...you do not make money from Social Media! If anything it is a Sunk Cost in regards to the time, effort and even money you may spend on Social Media Marketing.

 

However, Business deals are done with people who know, like and trust one another. Social Media is an investment that many businesses are now making, in order to follow the trend, but many of them are unaware of how to use these platforms, and so they are simply sinking money into a cause which gives them no benefit. Businesses do not see a direct relationship from increases in social media use to increased sales. However, by following this 4 step method, businesses will increase their Brand Awareness! When people know you are there, they will come to you and seek business when they are ready, its essentially a soft sell.

 

 

 

Digital Trends 2014: a report from Adobe

Adobe – Digital Trends 2014: http://success.adobe.com/en/uk/programs/products/digitalmarketing/1401-30364-econsultancy-digital-trends.html?s_cid=701a0000002IXUMAA4&s_iid=701a0000002ILMVAA4

 

This report was carried out to analyse the “trends, challenges and opportunities” faced by Marketers for 2014. As marketers are switching to predominantly online methods of marketing are platforms, such as Telesales, now obsolete?

20% of the correspondents think that the most exciting opportunity of 2014 is Customer Experience, ahead of Mobile (18%) and Content Marketing (15%). Customer Experience can include awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase and use of product. Companies must strive to set themselves apart from their competitors and in the eyes of the customers they serve by delivering an experience which will result in an increase in consumer spending, and thus inspire Brand Loyalty.

"Loyalty is now driven primarily by a company’s interaction with its customers and how well it delivers on their wants and needs” (Sebor, 2008)

However, in the world of B2B marketing, Content is King! ‘Content Marketing’ is the most recent marketing method companies are adopting, which may be due to the Social Media world, where content is everything. Getting people to first know you, then ‘like’ you, then trust you, so they will buy from you, is hard enough in person, but with so many differing opinions and the absence of a face to face meet or phone call, content is all the companies have to play with. The proliferation of new technologies has given these companies more freedom to construct effective, responsive content marketing strategies that will actually drive sales! This accompanied with a wide range of payment methods and the ever easing online transactions, which are now accessible by smart phone have driven sales right up, in both the B2B and B2C markets. “B2B marketers who have a documented strategy are more effective and less challenged with every aspect of content marketing” (Pulizzi, 2013)

Mobile Marketing is trending as the most important opportunity for B2C marketers. According to a separate study by eMarketer, “almost half of B2C marketers (46%) are using mobile content and 39% are using mobile apps” (Beechler, 2013). As smart phones become more affordable and widely available, global mobile users are increasing rapidly. eMarketer estimates world users will total 1.75 billion in 2014, which nearly two fifths of the total mobile users globally, and this will continue to rise following growth in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (eMarketer, 2014). Marketers have caught onto this growth and are continually trying to improve their mobile usability. Natwest and Barclays bank have both opened their own apps where customers can transfer money from their phone, pay for bills and access and view their account, creating an enormous ease of use. One which my bank HSBC has yet to do!

One interesting point highlighted in the Adobe report was that only 23% of marketers feel they have the necessary marketing technology they need to succeed in today’s market. The market is changing so fast that maybe some companies do not want to jump on the bandwagon too quickly as investment into say content marketing, which is currently trending, may be overtaken by the next best thing in the near future. However, businesses have to move with the times and adapt to changing market technologies as and when they happen in order to survive, those who do will come out the other end, having spent ridiculous amounts on their marketing budgets, which they do not see directly turn into sales. But the long term effects on revenue will ensure long term sustainability and customer loyalty.

 

Beechler. (2013). 13 Biggest Trends in B2C Content Marketing and Social Media for 2013. Available: http://www.exacttarget.com/blog/13-biggest-trends-in-b2c-content-marketing-and-social-media-for-2013/. Last accessed 29/04/2014.

eMarketer. (2014). Smartphone Users Worldwide Will Total 1.75 Billion in 2014. Available: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536. Last accessed 29/04/2014.

Pulizzi, J. (2013). 2014 B2B Content Marketing Research: Strategy is Key to Effectiveness. Available: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2013/10/2014-b2b-content-marketing-research/. Last accessed 29/04/2014

Sebor, J. (2008). CRM Gets Serious. Available: http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/CRM-Gets-Serious-46971.aspx. Last accessed 29/04/2014.