A lot of businesses in the last 5 years have found that Social Media is the best place to go to share their content. Oftentimes, a good Social Media presence can make or break many businesses, with poor Social Media presences often causing a business to stagnate and falter right out of the door. On the other hand, having a strong Social Media presence right out of the gate can help any small business grow exponentially, especially if they have a good marketing strategy in place.

So essentially, what is Social Media Marketing and how can you use it to your advantage? Well for people who are developing a brand, Social Media Marketing helps in the following ways:

-          Develops Brand Awareness via quick communication with an audience.

-          Builds engagement with a core audience

-          Advertises products, services, and more.

-          Develops a relationship with the audience by having them connect to the brand.

-          Is also a useful way for creating quick customer service

Essentially, the strength of Social Media Marketing is just how powerful of a tool it is when connecting with an audience. People like it when businesses develop a relationship with them, because it makes them feel like they’re not just another cheap purchase from them, and oftentimes people develop loyalty to a brand that they feel connected towards. If they’ve had nothing but positive communication with that brand, they’re more than likely willing to continue purchasing simply to support the business.

Sounds great! How do you get started then? In a nutshell, here are the steps you’re going to want to take to create a Social Media Marketing strategy that works for you.

1)      Create Goals. You’re going to need to define what it is that you want to do.

2)      Create an Audience persona. Who is it that you’re wanting to target and why. Not all customers overlap after all, and sometimes trying to cast a wider net will yield nothing while a smaller net will yield a bigger catch

3)      Look at what the competition is doing. Being unique and different does have its advantages, but there’s nothing wrong with seeing what your competitors are doing and developing a strategy around what they’re doing. Remember: You can tweak your strategies later.

4)      Practice Real Time Marketing. Real Time Marketing is simply where you engage an audience in real time with no discernable strategy. Being able to be contacted and talked to immediately is a powerful tool for Brands on the Social Media landscape.

5)      Schedule Posts. Aside from Real Time Marketing as a strategy, make sure that you post any relevant advertisements, promotions, or anything else ahead of time and tweak before sending out. You’ll always want to schedule something at least a week out.

6)      Be consistent. The major downside to Social Media is that people move on if you’re not consistent. You don’t have to post every day of course, but try to make a post at least once every few days; even if it is just rehashing an ad or something. If people know you’re a business they’ll forgive you for rehashing content as long as you’re not constantly spamming them.

7)      Follow Metrics. Be sure afterwards to follow the metrics, see what posts are gaining traction, which gives you more views and so on and then tweak your strategies from there.

And that’s usually all you need starting out. The best part about Social Media Marketing is how often feedback is almost instantaneously compared to most other marketing platforms. People by and large will see the post instantly, and react to it in real time and that’s what makes it one of the most fascinating ways to Market.