Website Design & Marketing

Developing an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy
Posted in Social Networking on August 1st, 2009 by Rusty

While I was researching other ideas on how to market myself socially I found a website with a great article on Developing an Effective Social Media Marketing Strategy. Anna Laura Brown with Examiner.com writes:

Do you have an effective social media marketing strategy or plan? If not, you are just wasting time with social media and you may earn some money or get some business but you will not succeed at the level that you would like to. I see many people using social media in the wrong way or in many cases they are wasting time and goofing off. Now if your goal with social media is just to have fun then there is nothing wrong with this, but, if you are using it to get clients and make money, then it is crucial that you develop an effective marketing strategy and that you stop playing around.

Here are some tips to help you develop this strategy:

1. Write down your social media marketing plan. It is not good enough to simply have it in your head. It must be written, clear and specific. Include as a part of your written plan your goals by month and year as well as exactly what you plan to accomplish with your social media marketing. For example, How many new customers will you attract this month? How many newsletter subscribers? How many people will you approach about a joint venture partnership?

2. How much time per day will you spend on your social media marketing? Unless you are just getting started and you need to set up your profiles, or you are in the business of internet marketing or teaching social media, an hour a day will be just the right amount for most people.

3. Do you have a friend or follower policy? Do you know exactly who you are looking to connect with and what your rules are for accepting a friend request or following someone back on Twitter? Is this policy written down or just in your head?

4. What is your target market on social media? There are all kinds of people who are using social media and it is crucial that you decide exaclty who you want to connect with. In many cases, you will choose the same target markets that you are marketing to off line or with other marketing methods. However, you also need to consider where you can best connect with your target market. For example, if you are looking to connect with sales professionals or other top executives, while you will find many of them on Facebook or Twitter, it may be smarter to use Linkedin to connect with them. Or if you are looking for moms of young children you may find that more of them use Facebook than Twitter. You need to evaluate your target market and determine where the majority of them are and then spend the majority of your time on that social network.

5. What is your budget? Do you have money to spend on social ads such as those on Facebook? If you do not right now, then you should set a goal to eventually be able to do so as this will increase your marketing effectiveness.

6. What products and services will you promote with social media? If you have more than one business or job, which one will you market? or will you market both of them? If you have only an off line business or a physical product will you create some information products you can also market with social media? Doing this is another way to increase your social media marketing effectiveness.

7. Which sites you will use on a regular basis? Which ones will you use less frequently? Most people find than any more than four sites are too many on which to be active. Decide which ones you will use and then stick with them.

Answer these questions in written form and then take the time to adjust your plan as needed. Then get busy and work your plan and your social media marketing will be much more effective.

ARTICLE SOURCE – Examiner.com – http://www.examiner.com/x-13398-Salt-Lake-City-Social-Media-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Developing-an-Effective-Social-Media-Marketing-Strategy

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