While businesses now have a direct line to their customers – 95% of Facebook wall posts are not answered by brands.
Whether you’re selling holiday packages or introducing a brand new application – social media marketing lets you get the word out and talk directly with your audience.
But, what does it take for successful social media marketing? How can businesses leverage the power of having a direct line to their customers?
The three pillars of successful social media marketing will tell you exactly what you need to know to make it worth your time.
Three Pillars Of Successful Social Media Marketing
Create content worth sharing
Whenever you set up a new social media account, your presence allows you to either share your own content or point your customers to other relevant content on the web.
You don’t need to always create your own content, and it’s perfectly fine if you recommend something else that is of value to your audience. The idea is to stay on the minds of your audience and have something useful to deliver.
Here are some examples of content you can share:
- Your blog posts
- Commenting on current events
- Photos (a good example is the Facebook page of Belon.gs)
- Interesting articles in your industry
- Polls on how your product is being used
Frequency
Just like we’ve mentioned in a previous post (see How To Protect Your Blog From Becoming A Lame Duck) – consistency and commitment is key.
For successful social media marketing, you need to create content frequently for others to remember you. And the occasional tweet is just not going to cut it.
Develop a concrete plan as to how often you’ll be pushing out content and at what times.
Here are some recent stats you should take into consideration:
- Facebook Page owners should wait at least 3 hours between posts
- Saturday has the most Facebook shares
- Tweeting 1-4 times per hour delivers the highest click-through rates
Deliver value
The previous two pillars aren’t much use unless you deliver value. Create content that is relevant to your audience, and avoid posting just to “make noise”.
So how do you deliver value? Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
- Solving customer problems
- Helping everyone make better buying decisions
- Offer special promotions and discounts
Social media is powerful! It’s the Swiss Army Knife for any marketer to use. However having a fully engaged audience is the foundation for social media marketing, your job here is to start a conversation and keep it going. Which will lead to more traffic, comments and shares for your content.
For more tips on how to engage your audience, check out Five Easy Steps To Engaging Your Community Like A Pro
