When one thinks of social media, sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pops up in one's mind. Many businesses and self-entrepreneurs make the mistake of having a social presence without proper planning on these sites, not realizing the necessity of their ultimate marketing goals and objectives. Creating a social media campaign is not different from any other marketing campaign. It equally requires a solid planning and a winning strategy. But no one can define a winning formula; it is for you to formulate it. However, the following is the list of 12 golden rules that will help you in creating the most effective social media campaign while serving your purpose.
1. Be Patient
Social media in today's era is the most effective marketing medium with which you can monitor the outcome of your marketing campaign on a timely basis. If you have posted or tweeted, gave any comment or posted a sales pitch, you can instantly gauge the number and type (negative, positive or nil) of responses. Realistically, having a social web presence is very easy. But controlling and monitoring the marketing activities or forums while attaining your marketing goals is the challenging task.
If you wish to make it big on social media campaign, you need to be patient. After finalizing the action plan, you need to wait and watch. Observe where your social media campaign is heading. Is it achieving the desired response? Is it drawing the users of the very site towards you? Success is not achieved overnight. It requires investment in terms of effort, time and money. So once the campaign is launched, do not worry about the outcome immediately. Give it some time.
2. Make use of multimedia
Social media is a very interactive medium only if you know how to use it to your advantage. We, humans tend to buy things after looking at them. So to keep the sales rolling in, upload relevant images and videos of your product or include an effective sales pitch to keep your followers engaged, entertained and informed.
3. Offer Value
For others to notice you, you have to offer something valuable, interesting and unique. If you are going to have the same repeated feeds on your page, then nobody is going to get fascinated. You have to maintain an attractive profile with fresh content. You have to feed your followers and fans with useful information and advice.
Nobody likes to listen and take advice from amateurs. Your content must be well versed and informative. It should look like it is coming from a professional but not from a lame person. As far as the posts, feeds and blogs are concerned, find out what information your followers are looking for and add content accordingly. If they come to you for advice then do adequate research before responding. Remember, you have to break the clutter not to become one.
4. Quality over Quantity
Focus on quality rather than quantity. If you keep posting countless irrelevant posts and feeds without concentrating on the quality of the content, then you are not only wasting your time but also of the others. Eventually, your followers will get irritated and annoyed and may block you. Forget numbers and focus on excellence.
5. Stay Updated
Stay abreast with the changing market trends and tweak your social media campaign accordingly. Observe the changing customers' needs and wants, watch out your competitors' moves and overall marketing environment and devise your social media strategy as a result. If you fail to update yourself with passing time then you will soon be forgotten.
6. Listen First
The number one rule for an effective communication is listening. If you do not know what the other person is trying to say then how will you respond?
Listen to your audience first. Make them realize that you are all ears, only then they will start communicating. Have a regular conversation with them and encourage them to participate and contribute to your feeds. You cannot achieve it by force so you have to provide an environment where they can talk their heart out and converse.
7. Value your follower
Treat your followers and fans as special. Make them feel important. If you are going to value your followers then they are going to value your offerings. If you are going to treat them non-seriously, then they are going to treat you in a similar fashion. So treat your followers well, value their response and interact with them often.
8. Be Professional
Social media is a free and impulsive world. So watch out your step. Stay away from negative publicity and PR. Remember every individual has different mindset. Not everyone is going to respond to your feed/post in a positive fashion. If you come across an offensive and unpleasant situation then instead of responding aggressively, you need to cover it up tactfully. On social media, you have to respect your customer/follower comments all the time.
So before responding to such posts and feeds, think twice. Remember, one bad customer could affect your business and your brand.
9. Avoid Repetition
Avoid unnecessary repetition and duplication of sales pitch. Keep it simple, crisp and engaging. If you keep posting the same boring trite sales pitch every time, then it will just annoy your followers and keep them distanced. Surely, do inform and update your followers with the latest marketing gimmicks but do not overdo them.
10. Stay Focused
It is very important to stay focused; if your social media campaign is not generating the required response, then you are not doing it right. All the investment of time and effort is a waste. Plan your posts and feeds. If one fails to attain the desired result then use another one. The bottom line of the business must not go out of focus.
11. Build a Strong Bond with your followers
Building a strong relationship with your followers and fans is the key to a successful social media campaign. Make connection with the favorable people who are likely to boost your business and sales.
12. Confine yourself
Limit your marketing efforts to certain groups and forums. Do not over stretch yourself. Joining a number of groups is not a big thing. What important is how you are performing in these groups. So limit yourself to certain relevant groups, where you can comfortably participate and contribute valuably rather than being an inactive member.
By following the above golden rules, you will surely be able to devise an effective social media campaign. Contact us at
www.Kreatepop.com to learn more about how to develop a useful social media campaign.
