5 Keys to Effective Social Media Marketing

Posted by Jenn Sargeant

Social media marketing is an important element to online marketing. Can we rewind to 2004, just for a second, and remember the days when you had to have an invitation or a college email address just to join Facebook? Thirteen years later we have business pages, marketplaces, and even job postings all on Facebook. We’re just touching the surface with the evolution of social media when we are referring Facebook. Let that sink in…

The fact of the matter is that social media has not only created and shaped its own world, but it has been a large element for businesses. Social media profiles allow businesses to have a human element to their business and allow them to directly communicate with their customers using a platform that 90% of the population uses. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with social media and all the factors that tie into the realm of public profiles. Don’t worry – we created this blog post to help you!

5 Keys to effective social media marketing:

Optimization is the first and foremost important element of your social media profile. The best way to be effective with your social media marketing is to completely optimize your profile. We’re talking about little details such as a short and long description, call to action and adding a map to your “About Us” section. The whole nine yards of optimization!
Social media is for everyone and the best way to connect to your customers is to be NORMAL. Seriously, this cannot be stressed enough. Be a real-life human with feelings on social media. Tell your fans happy holidays, post-closing early alerts for natural disasters (hurricane preparation, for example) and let your customers meet your staff with basic iPhone videos. Robots are boring, my friends.
Social media is a fair game platform for customers to reach out to businesses. The days of writing letters of terrific reviews or critical statements are behind us (well, for the most part). If someone comments on your product in the free open space we call social media, then we encourage you to respond. Respond if it is a good comment and respond if it is a negative comment. Responding is the most important point to this tip and it goes hand in hand with tip #3 (being all human and such).
Post frequently to maintain your presence on social media. The term frequently is rather subjective and can overwhelm people quickly. In this case, frequently means at least once a week. Create a social media posting schedule and schedule postings in advance. There are a handful of social media scheduling tools available to help business owners manage their platforms. As one of the social media guru’s in our company, social media scheduling tools are a lifesaver (especially on Christmas morning!).
People follow your company / brand on social media because they like your product. That doesn’t mean you should only talk about your product. Connect with your fans by posting other topics such as life hacks or trending news. There is a little rule we recommend with our social media marketing strategy and it’s the 80/20 rule. A majority of the topics, or 80%, should be about topics that relate to your business and the other portion, or 20%, should be self-promotion of your products.

Businesses around the world depend on Upright Communications for not only effective online marketing but effective social media marketing. If you have questions about social media marketing, online marketing or search engine optimization reach out to Upright Communications. We can schedule a quick 15-minute phone call to see how we can help your business!