… and how having a Social Media Strategy Template can help you plan content for your business
One of the most rewarding attributes of any successful business is its ability to evolve and embrace new and innovative concepts, while also building new relationships, ideas and strategies to improve the overall delivery of your product or service.
In recent years, there has been a growing trend for businesses of all shapes and sizes, to engage with social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram (just to make a few), in order to boost their business performance and sales results. It’s no wonder that businesses are seeing the value of these platforms.
As of the most recent statistics of 2019, Facebook boasts a membership of over 2.38 billion monthly active users, while Instagram in 2018 had hit 1 billion users per month and Twitter follows with 330 million monthly active users (as of the first quarter of 2019), according to this recent Washington Post article. With numbers like these, no business should ignore the influence of such social media sites. Their large communities can mean big money for businesses!
But why else are social media websites like Twitter.com, Instagram.com and Facebook.com such an invaluable tool for business owners?
Here are some reasons …
These Social Media Sites Foster Better Customer Relations
Customers love having their opinions heard. But what do they love even more than this? Users of these platforms love when the feedback they provide about a company gets noticed!
It’s this type of feedback that should be encouraged and welcomed. If a company can see what their users are talking about pertaining to their experience with their products and services or of the services of their competitors, this can better help them make improvements. After all, most people commenting on these platforms love to share their experiences and these are the types of conversations that businesses should be engaging with and listening to as well. Furthermore, when the company actually implements the suggestions of a customer, this leads to greater trust from not only existing customers, but also from those considering using their products or services!
This open communication by these social sites not only helps to improve customer satisfaction, but these types of conversations can also result in a better user experience – which benefits not only the customer, but ultimately the bottom line of these companies.
Social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter etc., have directly enabled business owners to more actively involve their customers by encouraging their feedback. Businesses have realized that listening to the needs of their customers through the help of social media websites such as these should be welcomed.
It is this “community” of people within these platforms that has created a tightly woven circle of like-minded individuals who want to share their experiences with the world, while having a community that they feel they can freely engage with 24/7.
The viral aspect of social media networks has given the customer more of a voice and businesses realize that this voice should not be ignored. Many companies are now implementing contests, quizzes, polls and giveaways. This enables them to get feedback for free from their customers. If you’re a business owner, implementing this type of strategy will allow you to identify areas in your business that needs improvement.
Social Media Enables Your Business to Highlight and Showcase its Strengths
As a business owner, in order to succeed within the business world, you need to showcase and highlight those parts of your business that make it superior to your competition. Not only this, but you also need to show that your business is more valuable to your customers in general. Showcase the benefits of your products with photos and videos of how well your products work. Why not consider providing tutorials and how-to videos or why not offer tip sheets to help your customers engage better with your offer.
Here is an example of a video of this concept in action:
This video is showing food alternatives to help someone who chooses not to eat meat. Then if the video is playing on YouTube or other video site, they can add a link for the viewer to followup. Someone who is vegan, vegetarian or a person becoming a non-eater of meat would appreciate this type of information. They’ll be able to see that there truly are more alternatives to having meat. But best of all, if you follow-up a blog post like this with a Content Upgrade or Bonus Recipe E-book filled with recipes using these meat alternatives, that’s a great way to add more value and ultimately gain the trust of your viewer. And we all know that trust leads to the sale!
Often time’s people need to see something visually in order to fully understand how good your offer really is.
For example, if you’re a company that sells blenders, why not show a delicious smoothie blend being made using your product! Along with your video or photo demonstration, you could also capture your audience’s information by having them opt-in to get your free recipe book.
An opt-in is simply a form on your website that asks for your readers name and email address and in return, you give them valuable content in any format. It’s this “extra” content, that’s going to help them make their lives better in some way. Often times, this offer solves an issue they’re having. In this example, the offer of the free recipe book solves the users problem of what they could use the blender for. They are no longer limited to what they can make. They now have an unlimited amount of delicious, healthy smoothie recipes! Do you see the power here!
Check out this video that demonstrates this strategy in action.
This video shows how someone looking to gain more muscle, can choose more protein fueled foods or “muscle building foods” in order to build stronger, bigger muscles. If this video went even further showing an image of a recipe book called “20 Delicious Recipes for Building Bigger Muscles” and making it a free offer through an opt-in email signup, they could gain a bigger list of signups for the offer. And if they then give that list a related offer that they charge money for, they can ultimately gain more sales to build their business and brand!
Featuring visual messages, for example using videos and photos in your social profiles, which lead to your offerings, makes it easier for you to then reach out, inform and entice your existing and prospective customers. It also helps to build a stronger relationship with your audience. And we all know that stronger relationships foster greater customer loyalty, trust and lead to life-long customers.
Social Media Allows for New and Cost Effective Marketing Strategies
Social media has opened the doors for business owners to experience and leverage the size of these platforms to better market their business.
Look at these numbers again! To have access to these amounts of users offline, there is no comparison! The number of users on these platforms is a goldmine!
Just look at these numbers:
Now, with such a huge selection of social media websites out there, as a business owner, all you have to do is engage with them by giving more. For example, why not host a competition, where the person who manages to attract the most fans for your business, wins a hefty prize! After all, everyone loves prizes! Now, when you compare the expense of the prize, versus the extra earnings and new customers you will gain, there is no comparison.
Social media has become not only the most influential marketing method, but it has also become the most beneficial marketing method in comparison to most of the traditional marketing currently available. The use of traditional outdoor billboards, magazine ad spots and flyers are not cutting it when it comes to marketing. With the introduction of the internet and its viral opportunities, not to mention it giving you the business owner the ability to track and tweak your ad campaigns and website offers, has provided businesses with more value for their ad spend, not to mention their ability to control their ads and other online content so that they can see the results that they’re returning.
The power of social media must no longer be ignored. If your business is not on the social media bandwagon right now, you’re limiting your businesses potential.
Get out there and communicate with your audience! Share great information that’s going to help them. Let them know about your products and services to help make their lives easier! The more you get the word out there about your business in a way that is authentic and provides guidance and assistance to your audience, there is no doubt that you’ll gain more customers who will grow to like and trust you, but most importantly, they’ll eagerly want to share your message with others.
Stumped on what to share on these social media sites? No worries…
Here are some ideas on what type of content you should consider posting to these social sites. These posts have been a huge success for many companies.
Social Media Marketing Ideas:
1. Links to your most recent blog post. Not blogging you say! You’re missing out big time! Blogs allow your business to educate and inform your audience about the things they need to know to make their lives better. Just think, if you sell yoga mats, why not provide exercise tutorials for your audience so that they can be healthier (of course, using your yoga mat)! Show them how your yoga mats are better than the competition because of the materials used to make it – sweat-proof, easy to wipe down and anti-mould etc. You see, you need to inform with your audience in a way that adds value and is beneficial to them, but also compels them to want to buy from you. You’re providing them with great information and they now trust you because you’re finding a way to consistently keep in touch with them through these social sites in a way that’s going to help them. This shows you care. Remember, not all companies do this and that’s what can make you stand out.
2. Free Bonus Offer i.e., The Content Upgrade. Go a step further and offer a bonus guide to add to your blog post to help your reader do whatever it is you’re talking about even better! So, let’s go back to the yoga mat example. After your article on Top 10 Yoga Exercises for Better Posture… Why not offer more value with a bonus guide that goes a step further on the topic! This bonus (in the online marketing world) is referred to as a “content upgrade”. It’s this content upgrade or bonus, that helps your reader achieve even better results on top of the amazing tips you provided in your article.
A good Content Upgrade for this example would be to have tips on the best chairs on the market that can help with posture. What’s great about this type of offer is that you could partner with chair companies whose focus is on a healthy back and having good posture. You could mention the benefits of their chairs in the guide. What’s great about doing this is that you could get compensated by doing so! This type of collaboration is often done through a private partnership or through an affiliate program or affiliate network.
There are a ton of these programs around like Linkshare, Amazon and so many other. Another option is simply going directly to each company to work with them on some sort of compensation for anyone who purchases through the link you placed in your guide or on your website. Most companies offer this to website owners that choose to feature their products. It’s a great way to provide value and be compensated for it! But best of all, purchases and payments are all automated online saving you time and giving you a nice passive income in return.
3. A simple 15 second ad promoting your most recent product or service.
4. An encouraging quote to inspire and encourage your audience.
5. Your process and how you run your business
6. A day in the life, so that your audience can get to know you better and make a personal connection to you and your staff.
7. A tour of the office.
8. An interview with a happy customer ie., a case study. This could be a video, audio or a post on your website.
9. An Infographic of any of the above mentioned points. Visual content can be a huge driver of traffic, leads and sales!
10. Share a presentation you did recently. This showcases your expertise adding to your credibility and brand awareness.
Do you see how you can give your audience and customers that extra something to build better relationships and ultimately building a stronger brand! Your customers value this type of interaction and so should you.
Building relationships is essential. And joining social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram is a smart choice. But be sure that you first know who your customers are and where they are hanging out before you decide to invest in paid ads to these platforms. Once you find where your audience is hanging out, go there! Engage with your audience. Provide them with so much value that they’ll find it difficult to even consider going to your competition. Engage with them while also giving them offers you know they cannot refuse. This is the best way to add to your business and its overall profits.
Social media isn’t going anywhere. It’s only going to get better. And now with AI in the mix, well… Let’s leave that for another time. But social is here to stay!
Remember this … If your business is not investing in a social media marketing plan, you’re truly missing out. Your audience could benefit so much more when they know you’re out there. Your message, products or services could be shared with so many people.
It’s these types of social sites that can help you lift your business to levels you may have never imagined!
If you want to get expert help with creating compelling ads and content marketing drivers to help increase the ROI for your business, get in touch.
And while you’re at it …
Free 4 page Social Media Template
Your Personal Social Media Marketing Guide
Grab this Social Media Marketing Template that includes a guided checklist to help spread your message even further. It’s your personal guide to help your audience see your message and benefit from it in the best way possible.
Grab your Social Media Checklist Template right here now!
If you take the time to plan your content on a weekly or monthly basis, it will allow you to take action quicker and get better results by using a planned schedule.
