5 Essential Steps to Success in

Social Media Marketing

Social media accounts for 27 percent of all time spent online and has become a popular way for customers

to discover and research brands, and for marketers to reach out to potential customers.

93 percent of marketers currently say they use social media for business, and in 2013 there was a surge in

popularity of new networks like Pinterest, Vine, Google Plus and Instagram.

Before businesses jump into social media, here are the five essential steps to success in social media

marketing.

1. Start with a plan

1 in 4 small businesses have no strategy in place for social media marketing. If a business wants to be

successful in driving sales and leads from social, they need to have a clear digital strategy that incorporates

social media.

Each social network has different audience demographics, so businesses should strategically choose which

outlets to utilize based on their target customers. Examples of demographic differences include :

67 percent of people online use Facebook, making it the top social network

Facebook users are 60 percent female

The average Twitter user is a 28-year-old woman

Instagram users are most likely to be between 18 to 29

Pinterest skews heavily female, with 80 percent of users being women

Pinterest attracts women with more education and higher income

2. Create Quality Content

Quality content engages audiences. Such content gets easily shared across multiple platforms and thus garners

considerable reach and interest in a brand. Quality and Unique content is always appreciated in SEO practices

Quality Content refers to:

Informative

Sharable

Actionable

Relevant to the TG

Marketers should not be afraid to experiment to see what works best for them, whether they are successes or

failures.

3. Think Visually

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” but in social media, it may be worth more.

According to Harvard, about 70 percent of all Facebook activities revolve around images

On Facebook, 44 percent of users are more likely to interact with brands if they post pictures

Professional-quality photos garnered 121 percent more Facebook shares and an average of 90.64 shares per

post

Vine, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram are more examples of how social media is trending toward images

and videos

Marketers need to think ahead, with a creative strategy behind posts that incorporate the use of images.

4. Be Active and Responsive

Social Platforms are meant to be a two-way communication media

As customers and fans flock to a business’ social sites and post comments, they are going to expect the

company to be social as well.

Twitter users often choose to connect with brands either to appreciate or to criticize. Brands should be well

prepared to solve queries and grievances as soon as possible.

5. Measure Metrics

There are hundreds of millions of interactions across social media sites every day.

Though many believe social media is important, 25 percent of business have no specific strategy for

measurement.

Measuring metrics is the best way to keep a track on the Return on Investment and to calculate its increase.

A few metrics that every business should keep track of are:

Sharing/Reach

Click-through-rates

Conversion rates

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