Social Media has proven itself to be more than just a popular fad. It's now respected by businesses and marketing teams all over. But are people making the most of the social media resources available, or are they setting themselves up to fail with a flimsy social media campaign? Here are a few things to remember.
Why?
Why are you using social media for your marketing? "Because everyone else is doing it" isn't a good enough answer. Seriously, if that has even crossed your mind as a serious reason, stop now, before you start losing money hand over fist. You need to have a legitimate reason and plan from the outset as to why social media is going to be useful to you. Even if it's basic at first, at least have something to build on.
Where?
There are hundreds of recognised social networks out there, each with their own communities, niches and behavioural guidelines. You simply can't be everywhere at once. So find out where your audience is, but not only that, where will they go to absorb your content? If you have a lot of text heavy posts or infographics, then Instagram probably isn't going to reap the most rewards, barring some ingenuity on the part of your marketing team. Spread your seeds wisely, young grasshopper.
What?
What are you going to do with your new found online presence? How is it going to benefit you? Where is the return on investment? Followers aren't enough, you need to turn that into traffic and that traffic into conversions. What are you going to do to reach that end result?
Before embarking on any social media or online marketing campaign, ask yourself or your marketing team these questions before you pour your hard earned money down the drain.