Once you have a content marketing process in place, the ongoing promotion of your content (and business) on social media platforms can ensure an ongoing connection with your audiences.
Which social media platforms are most important to your business is the first question to answer (you do have a content marketing strategy in place, right?). Then we need to look at both free and paid opportunities on each network.
Your unique and valuable content will be promoted on the most important social media sites for you. This will both increase the number of people engaging with your content and increase the social “signals” picked up by search engines and, in turn, help in your ranking efforts. The best content will also lead users to interact with other content, both on and off your website.
We also train your team. Social media marketing is not a solo effort and you should leverage the power of your team there. We’ll develop a concise and effective training program and walk your team through what they need to do to make your marketing efforts more effective.
Each social media network has its place but the priority you set on each is highly dependent on where your audience hangs out. (Not just your customers.) Here are the networks we most frequently use with our clients:
LinkedIn is great for B2B lead generation and authority building. We start by reviewing (and usually revising) your company page. Then we promote your content on that page, including blog posts, press mentions, guest articles, and videos.
We look for other thought leaders to follow and interact with and identify the most relevant and valuable groups to your business to join. Sharing of content happens here too.
If your industry niche does not have a group with a strong leadership position, we’ll consider starting a new group to further enhance your position as an authority in the industry.
A B2C superstar, there are some B2B opportunities as well on Facebook. Of all the social networks, Facebook might be the most social. Sharing content is at the core of the ongoing activity here.
Finding and engaging with non-competitive pages is also important. It can garner attention from complimentary business offerings and potential partners as well (who can, of course, also share your content).
From a brand advocacy perspective, Facebook is a great tool. Customers, both happy and unhappy, often use Facebook (and Twitter) to express how they feel about your product or service. It’s important to monitor that activity AND respond to it in a timely manor.
Facebook ad targeting is second to none. If you have a clearly defined customer persona, the paid promotion opportunities to reach a very targeted audience are outstanding.
YouTube
The second largest search engine in the world, YouTube is not to be ignored. It is an opportunity to both promote your content and further engage with your target audience (whether B2B or B2C).
Many companies are unclear about how to leverage the power of this video platform and, as a result, end up missing much of the opportunity.
Your videos can be short and to the point (product feature demonstrations, for instance) or long and highly engaging (episodic video marketing that brings users back over and over). Your only limited by your creativity and budget on this front.
For the right products, YouTube ads may also makes sense.
The well know Twitter hashtag has now become part of our culture (#ourculture). Regular tweeting should be part of your company’s ongoing social marketing strategy but the trick is keeping up. (That’s why we’re here.)
Promoting both your content and taking the opportunity to establish relationships with industry influencers are the main objectives here.
And, as mentioned above, using Twitter as another channel to communicate with customers and prospects is a good idea. If they are tweeting about you and those tweets fall on deaf ears (keyboards?), then you are hurting your brand.
What’s Next for Your Company?
If you’d like to learn more about how Niche Player can help drive your social media marketing, please schedule a call and we’ll discuss your needs and how we might be able to help.