When it comes to marketing your business in 2015, are you being anti-social?
I’m talking about social media, which has radically altered our world over the past decade and, when used properly, can be an important part of your business and marketing plan.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn can greatly enhance your marketing efforts and your business, giving you the chance to connect with your clients on a much more regular basis and highlight your latest achievements quickly.
Staying active on social media can also help enhance your image as a go-to expert in your field. Many organizations are reluctant to embark on a full-fledged social media campaign, believing that it is simply for “social” situations, sharing news with friends and family, and not for the professional realm. However, at Mellady Direct Marketing, we are helping more companies than ever include successful social media advertising campaigns as part of their overall marketing mix.
Five Steps To Being More Social
If your company is not already participating in social media, here are some simple steps you can take to begin.
Evaluate your goals: Be clear about what you want to communicate to your target market and how you may want to grow your audience; then, create a strategy to address those objectives.
Create content: Consider the wide range of information you and your team already generate throughout the day. Using Twitter, for example, which is limited to 140 characters, you can take information that resides on your website and “tweet” it as news. Or perhaps you were featured in a news story. Posting the link with a brief explanation to your company’s Facebook page can bring more attention to you and your organization.
Remain current: It’s not enough to post something to your company’s social media account and never return to post again. Content in today’s fast-paced world grows stale when not updated. If you don’t have the luxury of dedicating a staff member to social media, set aside time to create content that appears current – for example, repurposed information from a recent direct-mail campaign or from your website – and post it at regular intervals.
Stay true to your brand image: Create and upload content that reflects your brand and the image you want to convey, whether you’re a top-notch financial services firm or a laid-back surf shop.
Be patient: Just as gaining the attention of your target market through other marketing vehicles takes time, the same holds true for social media. One tweet on Twitter will not bring an instant audience, but consistent, informative tweets over time will. You can also find creative ways to build Facebook “likes” and bring attention to your LinkedIn profile.
It might take a little time to find your stride, but if you invest in social media marketing I believe you’ll find, as I have, that it pays to be social.
Do you need help developing and implementing a social media marketing plan? Mellady Direct can help you. Contact us today and let’s talk about how we can help your business be more social!
