SMART Social Media Marketing Goals For Small and Medium Brands.
Many Small and Medium Brands (SMB) out there do not
necessarily see the connection between establishing a social Media presence and
their actual marketing efforts. The truth is that Social Media presence can
have a tangible impact on your business, one that you can actually measure in
terms of ROI. Social Media will not only help you raise and build awareness for
your brand but also establish yourself as a thought leader in your field and
ultimately generate leads. In fact a recent research by LinkedIn revealed that;
- 81% of Small and Media Brands currently use Social Media to drive business growth and 9% are planning use it in the future.
- 3 in 5 SMBs say it helps to gain new customers.
- 91% of hyper growth SMBs say it is effective for increasing awareness and 82% for generating new leads – which is more than 58% higher than the stated effectiveness for non-growth companies.
Although social media may not be necessarily a short cut, it
can definitely become a marketing power tool in your hands. So how can you build
your Social Media power Engine? Let’s start from the basics;
1. Focus on the right
Platforms.
The first most important thing in building a social media
power engine is picking the right business for you. Simply put, the fact that
there are various social media platforms out there does not mean you need to be
present on each of them. The truth is that most consumers of your service or
product expect your business to be active on all social media platforms
especially Facebook and Twitter. Other clients expect that the brand should be
present on at least four platforms. Despite these expectations, the same
audience is likely to follow you on one or two platforms. The choice of
platform depends entirely on the kind of business you are involved in and the
kind of clients that consume your services or products.
2. Treat your social
media pages as a landing page.
So if you are focusing on one-two social media platforms
then you would better bring your A-game. So make sure your profiles are as well
thought and optimized to work as a landing page. By looking at your page people
should immediately know where to find you. Share your profiles in your emails,
on your website and with your physical personal networks through business
cards.
Focus more attention on the branding of your pages and the
visuals that are used on the pages should communicate who you are. The visuals
should also help those looking out for you to easily identify your brand.
3. Define clear Goals
and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Perhaps the most common mistakes Small and Medium Brands
make is starting to tweet or Post on Facebook without really having a plan. If
you have found yourself making the same mistake, just take a step back and try
to answer these questions;
Why are you on Social
Media?
Many SMBs tend to neglect defining what their social media
marketing goals are. Social Media is a powerful tool so before investing your
effort and time, it is very important to think about some of your marketing
goals that Social Media will help you achieve. Is it brand awareness? Is it
improving customer service? Is it generating traffic? Whatever your goal is Be SMART.
Specific- Be clear about
what you want to achieve.
Measurable- Set goals that
can be measured with specific criteria and metrics.
Attainable- Be realistic
about your goals and make sure you have the necessary means and resources to
achieve them.
Relevant- You goals need
to be worthwhile and set to bring you forward.
Time-bound- Set the time
frame and aim for a dead line
What are your goals
for each platform?
If you are
present on more than one platform, it is important to define certain objectives
on each. Of course there might be an overlap but there are reasons why you
should define objectives of each platform. Do not be convinced at any one point
that social media platforms are the same. Setting objectives will be very key
during the time of evaluating your business achievements.
How are you going to
measure your success?
This is a very crucial step for social media marketing. Once
you have set your SMART goals, it’s now time to set your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). In other wards
set the numbers that you need to crack to make sure that you are on the right
track.
4. Maximize impact
and Minimize time
Its now your turn to share those crucial and important steps that you think are very important when it comes to social media for Small and Medium Brands Success.
By Mwebya Fred
mwbyfred@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/Ugaman01
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