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10 Clever Ways To Use Social Media To Jumpstart Your Marketing Campaign:
Social media is an integral part of today’s marketing campaigns. These 10 tips will help you get the most out of this important channel.
Using social media to jump-start your marketing campaign can be challenging. On the other hand, it can also be one of the most effective ways to get a head start on the marketing process. If you don’t already use social media to promote your business, this article is going to show you how it can be used to jump-start your marketing efforts and… put some serious firepower behind your launch.
Whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or a combination of all three, there are almost endless opportunities to use social media to jumpstart your marketing campaigns.
Set realistic expectations for marketing
Your first goal should be to simply get the word out about your existence. Don’t stress about how many “followers” you are going to get or how many sales you are going to make. That will come later if all this works out. Your second goal is to get some interest, and maybe even some leads. To do that, you need to craft a clear message that delivers on the benefits of what you have to offer. What does your ideal customer want? What problem does he or she have? How will using your product or service solve that problem? Make your answers compelling and specific.
Think of it this way: You are selling yourself. People don’t buy people; they buy solutions. If someone is overweight and doesn’t know how to lose weight, he or she isn’t going to buy you. No, the person who wants to lose weight is going to purchase a diet book or a fat-burner pill from you. It’s the same thing with networking. If you tell someone exactly what you want him or her to do (and then give them specific reasons why doing what you want is in his or her best interests), you are far more likely to create a profitable relationship. Don’t forget to always include a Benefit Statement. This is where you tell your readers what they will get (benefit) by buying your product or service. This is also where you restate (in their own words) their problem. If you do it right, they’ll be purchasing in no time.
Measure twice and cut once
This is one of the most important nuggets of advice you will ever get about social media. Cut out or drastically reduce any campaign that is not bringing you results. You can always add or increase campaigns as you learn more about what drives results. But don’t agonize over a campaign that isn’t working. It’s like pouring money into a campaign that is losing ground.
One of the biggest mistakes a business person can make is to continue to pour huge amounts of money into a losing campaign. You should only spend money on things that are profitable. If a particular campaign isn’t working, stop wasting time and money on it. Look at it as an investment in your future. If it turns out the campaign wasn’t worth the expense, you won’t have lost much. On the other hand, if the campaign was profitable, you should continue to use it but only to the point where it is bringing you maximum profits. Don’t get stuck in a vicious cycle of trying to “salvage” a dead campaign. If you do that, you will be throwing good money after bad. This will eventually catch up with you and bite you in the butt.
Test, test, test your marketing
Social Media metrics are important but you must remember to measure them after you have made the change you are testing. You need to re-test often and always stop making changes when the numbers start getting worse instead of better. It is only when you have tested enough times and enough variations of a test that you will be able to isolate which change improved the performance of your campaign. The main mistake people make when they are testing is that they test too late. They wait until the numbers are bad before they make a change. That will almost always make the problem worse. It is only by testing often and testing early that you will be able to find out what changes to make that will actually increase your numbers.
Once you know what changes will improve your performance, it is time to start making those changes. However, before you do that, you need to be sure that your metrics are telling you the truth. Metrics can lie. They can trick you. They can spin out of control if you don’t pay attention to them. You must always be on top of your metrics or they will control your life. It is important to remember that the metrics you care about are the ones that tell you the actual numbers, not some imagined number that has been “massaged” by somebody who doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
Remember: Nobody cares about your business… EXCEPT YOU!
So, what are some good metrics to track? Glad you asked. The first set of metrics you should be tracking are the ones that tell you how many people are clicking on your ads and how many of those clicks are resulting in sales.
Don’t wait for an audience, create one!
Social media is all about relationships, not marketing. It’s no different from the real world. You need to be in it to win it. Don’t just “hop on board” and hope to get something from it. You have to jump in with both feet. Create a presence on the sites where your ideal customers are congregating. Be seen. Be active. Be engaged. This is true whether you’re talking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or whatever other social media site you choose to use. Don’t wait for an audience to come to you. You must go to where the people are.
All great salespeople understand this principle. They go to the places where the people are and then they “dance” to the music that is being played in those particular locations. In the same way, if you want to be a social media “salesperson,” you must be where your audience is. You should have a presence on every social media site your customers are using. If they are on Twitter, you should be on Twitter. If they are on Facebook, you should be on Facebook. Don’t just “hop on board” and hope to get something from it. You have to jump in with both feet. Create a presence on the sites where your ideal customers are congregating. Be seen. Be active. Be engaged.
Develop a marketing mission statement
For most businesses, social media is all about the money, right? Not true. Social media is about connection. Connection to your customers, to your industry, to your team, and to the world at large. Once you understand the deeper, emotional purpose of social media, the focus of your efforts will shift from “marketing” to “communication.” From trying to sell to simply informing and sharing.
Most businesses worry about making a profit. That’s natural because that’s what a business is supposed to do. However, businesses should not forget about another important aspect of life, and that is…
Connection!
Businesses have a natural tendency to concentrate on the money side of things. They get very focused on sales and how to increase the number of sales they make. However, if a business forgets about connection, it could suffer a lot of harm. If this happens, it may lose its customers, and when this happens, the business will no longer make any money.
Social media gives us an amazing opportunity to connect with people all over the world. If you are not using social media, for this reason, you are truly missing the boat. Social media allows us to share information and ideas freely. It provides a forum where people can connect with each other.
Promote your vision via Marketing
If you’re going to have a vision, make sure it’s shared. The more people who know about your vision, the more likely they are to buy into it. Make sure your followers and fans know what you want them to do. In other words, share your vision… don’t hoard it for yourself.
Know your customer
A key to success on any social network is to understand your customers. What are they interested in? Who are their friends? What are they saying about the products and/or services you offer for sale? Are they using language that is specific to your niche? Do they have friends or contacts who might become customers? Do any of these people have any influence on the type of people you want to sell your goods and/or services to? If so, pay them extra attention and use them to your advantage.
We live in a very complex world. There are millions of people in this country alone, and countless others throughout the world. All of these people have different interests, likes and dislikes. If you want to sell something to the masses, you are going to have to dumb it down for them. You can’t expect everyone to understand everything. But, you can at least make the things your customers are most interested in very clear and understandable. Don’t make it sound like a college lecture. Instead, speak in simple everyday language that is easy to comprehend. Don’t try to be clever or overly academic. Instead, be direct and to the point. Be a good salesperson. Find out what your customers want and give it to them. That’s the key to making a profit in any business.
Position yourself as a thought leader
Thought leadership is the practice of authors, speakers, and other “influencers” giving “permission” to get inside their heads and tell their audience what’s going on there. In other words, it’s the practice of these influencers sharing their innermost thoughts and feelings about a particular subject. It makes them vulnerable… but only to those with enough discernment and perception to understand and appreciate what they are saying. Once you position yourself as a thought leader in your field of expertise, your prospects will not only seek out your advice, they will pay you for it!
Keep it simple stupid
One of the most important rules of thumb for creating a successful social media campaign is KISS — which stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid.” If you try to explain too much or go into unnecessary detail on social media, you will lose followers and engagement and ultimately, your campaign will fail.
Social media is all about the KISS principle. If you are not using the right words, you are going to lose people. If you are not making your point clear, you are going to lose people. If you are not being brief, you are going to lose people. If you try to be clever or use big words or over-complicated sentences, you are going to lose people. Simplicity always wins on social media. If you keep it simple, you will be able to make your point clearly and you will increase the chances that your followers will engage with you.
Fail fast
The real meaning of “fail fast” is to immediately change course when things aren’t going well. This saves a lot of time and energy. If you are doing a project, and you find out after a certain amount of time has passed that the project is not working, you should immediately stop trying to force it to work and start thinking about changing the project to something else. It is not a sign of weakness to admit that you have failed and to change direction. In fact, this is the essence of true strength. You don’t keep trying to run a race that has been stopped.
Conclusion
In conclusion, don’t just use social media to broadcast what you’re doing. Use it as a tool to gain insight, fuel your creativity, and find new ideas. The best way to gain traction is to give people something to talk about. If you offer fresh, valuable insights, people will be more than willing to share your enthusiasm by talking about it with their friends and followers.
Please let me know if you have any questions… or if there is anything else I can do to help you.
