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Social Media Marketing

We Can Harness Social Media for Your Business Growth

“Social Media puts the “public” into PR and the “market” into marketing. ”
Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs

Are you looking for powerful ways to enhance your organizations’s brand, drive more traffic to your website, and skyrocket your sales? Social media marketing (SMM) is one of the keys to achieving these goals and more.

According to Forbes, the social media advertising market is expected to reach $207 billion in 2023. The undeniable advantage of SMM is the incredible exposure it brings. By leveraging social media platforms, you’ll reach a vast audience, allowing you to build a strong following and cultivate a loyal customer base. But that’s not all – increased website traffic and an influx of leads mean you’ll see a positive social media ROI.

In this article, we’ll dive into how companies benefit from social media marketing and how a social media management company like Invite Them Home can ensure a winning strategy. Don’t miss out on the incredible opportunities that await you on social networks!

What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?

Social media marketing (SMM) is a powerful tool that uses social media platforms to build your brand, boost sales, and drive website traffic. It allows you to connect with existing customers and attract new ones, all while providing valuable data analytics to track success and explore new opportunities for engagement.

Creating an effective social media marketing strategy involves establishing business profiles, engaging with your target audience, staying on top of current trends, and utilizing a variety of content types. Using these strategies can increase your brand’s visibility and help you establish a solid online presence.

There’s no doubt social media marketing can have amazing benefits for small and mid-sized businesses. However, many of these company leaders lack the time and expertise to fully leverage social media’s potential. That’s where we come in. Our team of experts can help you achieve your social media goals and maximize the impact of your marketing efforts.

6 Steps to a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy, you have your work cut out for you. You cannot establish a solid online presence without creating and optimizing your business profiles and pages on relevant social platforms. These profiles should include your company’s logo, a compelling description of your products or services, and contact information. You will also want consistent branding across all the platforms you will utilize. Consistent branding makes it easier for your target audience to recognize and trust your business. That sounds simple, right?

However, there is a lot of research and thought behind these seemingly basic tasks. Here are some key factors we address when choosing where you should be and what tone you should set on your profiles.

Step 1:
Step 1:

1. Define your goals

You don’t get in your car and start driving without a destination in mind. The same goes for your social media marketing strategy. Creating an effective social media campaign begins with establishing clear and measurable objectives. Without goals, it becomes impossible to gauge success or determine your return on investment (ROI).

To ensure your social media marketing goals are effective, they should follow the SMART framework: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

A social media goal is a statement that outlines what you aim to achieve through specific marketing tactics or your overall social strategy. The best social media goals are aligned with broader business objectives. Examples of common social media goals include lead generation, website or online store traffic, and increasing followers. Social media goals can be applied to individual ads, organic posts, or full-scale campaigns.

Clearly defined social media goals provide a target to work towards and can help gain support from your manager or other stakeholders. Well-crafted social media marketing goals can help with budget management, workflow structure, proving ROI, and aligning social media activity with your organization’s business objectives.

While it’s easy to track vanity metrics like followers and likes, their true value is difficult to prove. Instead, focus on engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Consider tracking different goals for different social media platforms or for different purposes within each platform.

For instance, measuring click-throughs is appropriate for using LinkedIn to drive website traffic. If Instagram is for brand awareness, tracking Instagram Story views would be relevant. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common metric for success.

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Step 2:
Step 2:

2. Research your audience

Defining your target audience is crucial for successful social media marketing. Understanding your audience can create more relevant campaigns and achieve better results.

Simply put, your target audience is the people most likely to be interested in your product or service. They typically share similar characteristics.

Defining your target audience has several benefits. You can allocate your advertising budget more effectively, focus on the right platforms, and develop customized messaging that resonates with your current and potential customers. Knowing how your audience uses social media allows you to connect with them easier and earn their loyalty.

To understand your target audience, start by analyzing your existing audience. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Who follows and interacts with your social media posts?
  • What common characteristics do they have, such as age, location, language, and interests?
  • Use this demographic information to target similar people who haven’t yet followed your brand.

Understanding the type of information your followers seek and engage with will help you tailor your social media content strategy. Adjust your approach based on the reasons people follow brands on social media.

Identify which social media platforms your target audience uses the most. This will help you determine where to focus your marketing efforts. For example, launching a Twitter campaign wouldn’t make sense if your audience is primarily active on Instagram.

Learn about your audience’s likes, dislikes, challenges, and desired solutions. Pay attention to what they say about your brand or products. Once you understand your audience, highlight how your products or services solve their problems. Align their pain points with your key benefits, positioning your business in a way that resonates with your target audience.

Conduct market research on your competition to gain further insights. Ask questions like:

  • Who are your competitors targeting?
  • How are they reaching out to their audience?
  • What are they doing well?
  • What are they missing?
  • What key benefits do they emphasize?
  • How frequently do they post?
  • Which content formats are successful for them?
  • What tone do they use?

Now that you clearly understand your target audience and competition, you can refine your social media marketing strategy and effectively reach your audience.

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Step 3:
Step 3:

3. Choose the right platforms

Since there are now seven social media sites with over a billion users, discovering the right social media platforms for your business can be overwhelming. However, by considering a few key factors, you can make informed decisions and maximize your chances of success.

First and foremost, it is crucial to understand your audience. No matter how many active users a platform has, it’s not the right fit for your business if your audience isn’t engaged there. Take the time to research where your audience hangs out and focus your efforts there.

In addition to your audience, consider your company’s unique characteristics. Consider your products, services, and brand personality. Visual brands may thrive on platforms like Instagram, while B2B enterprises can benefit greatly from utilizing LinkedIn. It’s important to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and you should choose platforms that align with your business goals.

Analyzing your competitors and others in your industry will also provide valuable insights. Understanding their platform choices, what’s working for them, and how engaged their audience is can help inform your own decisions, although ultimately, you should choose based on what makes sense for your business.

Lastly, remember that each social media platform has its own communication style and purpose. Take the time to familiarize yourself with each platform’s unique features and etiquette to ensure you make the most of your presence.

Social media requires dedication and resources. Assess the amount of time and effort you can realistically commit to social media management before expanding to multiple platforms. It is better to excel on one or two channels than to spread yourself too thin.

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Step 4:

4. Create engaging content

Want to have fun with data-driven creativity? Creating relevant content can be the most enjoyable part of your strategy but also the most time-consuming. Our ITH copywriters are fantastic at brainstorming social media content ideas and taking the burden of writing off you and your team.

When developing your social media content plan, it’s important to consider your social buyer personas. Think about the formats they’re likely consuming and change up the types of content you’re publishing.

Here are some tips to fresh and quality content:

  • Be interesting: Go beyond sharing white papers and spark conversation around news events, conferences, industry insights, or create and share relevant and humorous graphics.
  • Be helpful: Offer content that provides new knowledge, solves a problem or assists decision-making.
  • Help them help others: Create content that benefits those within your network so they want to share with each other. Make it easy for social media users to enhance your personal brand by creating shareable and compelling content.
  • Focus on achievements: Cater to the desire for accomplishment by aligning your content with readers’ career or life goals.
  • Be everywhere: Optimize your content for mobile consumption as a significant portion of social media traffic comes from mobile devices.

You can also try ephemeral content - content that appears on social media for a short period of time, usually 24 hours or less. This type of content can come in handy to trigger your followers’ FOMO (fear of missing out), encouraging them to stay actively engaged with your account.

Dig into your data to determine what content types and formats work best for you. Invite Them Home uses professional tools to track how your social media campaigns are performing. This will guide your content creation process.

Once you know what works, it’s time to build a social media content calendar. A calendar allows you to take a big-picture approach, visualize ideas, and organize your strategy. It becomes a hub for everything you post.

Don’t be afraid to repurpose content and schedule it across different platforms for maximum impact. Consider platform-specific best practices and optimal posting times based on your audience. Remember, your social media strategy goes beyond posting on your channels. Actively distribute your content to maximize brand awareness. Timing is key, so share posts when your audience is most active.

Your followers expect quality content that engages, informs, educates, and entertains. Modern consumers are savvy and prefer brands that offer value through entertaining, educational, or promotional content. Sell the experience, not just the product.

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Step 5:
Step 5:

5. Promote your page or profile

When it comes to promoting your business on social media, timing is key. Knowing when and where your audience is most active will increase their chances of noticing your products, visiting your site, and sharing your offerings with others.

Setting clear social media objectives is essential for guiding your promotional efforts. Foster loyalty and engage with your followers regularly by listening to their needs and suggestions. Encourage them to participate in product discussions and reward them for their input. You can increase sales and foster a dedicated customer base by incentivizing your fans and involving them in your brand journey.

Using promotional keywords strategically can significantly improve the visibility of your social media posts. Keywords like “free," “offers," “discount," “giveaways,” and “sale” tend to attract attention and drive sales opportunities. However, ensure that your social media content aligns with your website to maintain consistency and trust with your audience. Be mindful not to overdo promotional offers and tailor your content strategies according to holidays and big events.

Experiment with different types of content, such as images, videos, carousels, or stories, to see what resonates best with your audience. Collaborating with influencers in your niche and organizing social media contests can also help boost your website traffic and attract new followers. Stay active and experiment with new ideas to find what works best for your brand.

Staying updated with the latest social media trends is vital for standing out and promoting your brand more efficiently. Being an early adopter allows you to capitalize on emerging opportunities and ensure your strategies are relevant in a constantly evolving digital landscape. Keep track of algorithm changes on each platform to optimize your promotional efforts and stay ahead of the competition.

On a social media network like Twitter, customer-centric hashtags can significantly boost engagement and provide social proof for your brand. Create a dedicated hashtag to encourage customers to share their experiences and interactions with your products or services. Repost their content to showcase the impact of your brand and build trust with your audience.

Remember, offering value to your audience is crucial for successfully promoting your brand on social media. Keep your followers’ interests as your top priority and continually align your strategies with what resonates with them. Invite Them Home will use our digital marketing tools to promote your profiles and achieve your business goals more efficiently.

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Step 6:
Step 6:

6. Measure your media marketing effectiveness

Now, it’s time to measure the impact of your efforts. Knowing where to focus your resources and maximize your social media marketing budget is difficult without hard data.

Tracking the number of followers on your social media pages is a good starting point, but it’s not the only indicator of success. The key is to look at the volume and quality of interactions, such as comments, likes, and retweets. This shows that you’re attracting the right kind of fans – potential customers.

While followers and post engagements are important, other key performance indicators (KPIs) hold more value. Ultimately, new customers and revenue are the main factors that impact your business the most. Don’t overlook traditional measures of success like website traffic, post engagements, and conversions. These metrics still matter for brand awareness and understanding your audience’s preferences.

We will start by monitoring online traffic. We’ll use a combination of paid tools and Google Analytics to give you a comprehensive report. Metrics like the number of visits, page views, comments, and likes, compared to the total number of fans, will tell us how your social marketing is performing. Then, we measure your competitive position against others in your industry and track how long visitors stay on your page. We also analyze sales conversion rates and actions like content downloads and sign-ups.

Measuring the return on your social media efforts can be challenging, but there are ways to get an indication. One option is to create a dedicated landing page or promotional code exclusively for your social media followers. Track the sales that come from these sources and compare them to your social media spending. Remember that this approach doesn’t account for all purchases made by your social media fans. Another approach is to look for correlations between your social media activity and sales results, but remember that correlation doesn’t always mean causality.

To measure sales lead generation, track the source of your leads. Ask customers how they found you or use website analytics to see where your traffic is coming from. Break down the data for each social media page and compare the number of leads you get per follower on different platforms.

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Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Social media is an incredibly effective marketing tool for small businesses, but not all platforms are alike. Each social media channel has its own unique user base and interaction style. It’s important to understand these nuances before investing in social media marketing, as it can impact the success of your efforts.

 

Here are a few factors to consider when choosing which social media marketing platforms are best for your business:

Consider the nature of your business:

The social media channels you use will depend largely on your industry. If you’re a B2C company, Facebook and Instagram are great for gaining visibility and engaging with customers visually. LinkedIn is ideal for B2B companies, allowing you to target clients and build personal connections. YouTube is also a must-have for many organizations to interact and share video content.

Consider client demographics:

Focus on your core target audience and ideal customers. Rather than chasing after the latest social media trends, you should be chasing your customers. At ITH we will research your audience to ensure you’re fishing in the right ponds.

Research into the demographics of your customers will narrow down the most beneficial social media platform to pursue. Don’t spread yourself too thin by attempting to manage multiple platforms simultaneously.

Research your competitors:

Competitive analysis is paramount to any organic or paid social media marketing campaigns. Study your top industry rivals’ social media pages to understand what content they post, how often, and the engagement they receive. Choose the social media platform that yields the greatest results for other similar businesses so you can stay on top of the competition.

Understand and align on your social goals:

Choose a platform based on your specific social goals. As a business owner, your main objective may be to increase sales by attracting customers. However, there are also other creative purposes for utilizing social media. Some brands use social media to enhance brand recognition and build friendly relationships with potential buyers, while others employ it for customer support.

When determining your social media goals, take the time to brainstorm a variety of both typical and unconventional ways in which social media can benefit your brand. For enhanced customer care, prioritize Twitter for its top-notch customer feedback capabilities. Brands in the travel and hospitality industries may find Instagram beneficial for visually showcasing their offerings. Aligning platform benefits with business goals is key.

What does a B2B Social media marketing plan look like?

B2B social media marketing is the key to promoting your products or services through engaging content and generating high-quality leads. Social media offers endless possibilities for B2B brands, from building relationships to showcasing industry expertise.

While both B2C and B2B marketing use social media platforms for communication, the main difference lies in the target audience. B2C focuses on selling to consumers, while B2B focuses on selling to businesses.

In today’s digital age, social media plays a vital role in customers’ decision-making process. With up to 90% of purchasing decisions starting with online research, having a strong social media presence is essential for B2B brands to stand out from the competition.

B2B social media marketing effectiveness depends on aligning campaigns with specific business goals. When executed correctly, it builds engaged audiences, nurtures relationships, and drives sales from both new and existing customers.

Investing in B2B social media is a wise choice for companies looking to boost their reputation, increase sales, earn trust, expand their market share, and retain loyal customers.

Choosing the Best B2B Social Media Platforms

Regarding marketing on social media, the first step is deciding which platforms to use. With options like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, it’s important to consider your capabilities and where your target audience is located.
Take the time to research which demographics are active on each platform and compare it to your target audience. For B2B companies, LinkedIn can be especially valuable due to its business-oriented nature.

Engage and Interact with Your Audience

Interacting with your audience on social media is crucial rather than just talking at them. Think of it like hosting a dinner party – you want to mingle and have one-on-one conversations with your guests.

Likewise, engage with your business followers by responding to tags and questions.

Share Informative Content

In B2B marketing, flashy visuals and catchy ads may not be enough. Business executives appreciate factual information to make informed decisions. Focus on providing informational content through infographics, videos, and blog posts that educate users about your business, products, and industry. As users learn more about you, they’ll be more receptive to buying from you.

Showcase Social Proof

Just talking about how great your business is might not impress potential customers. But if they see positive feedback from past customers, it creates a stronger message. Promote social proof on your social media page by sharing testimonials, reposting favorable posts, and linking to case studies. When people see the value you’ve provided to others, they’ll be more willing to work with you.

An Example of Social Media Strategy

We offer our clients comprehensive social media marketing services, tailoring our approach to their specific needs. As part of our process, we will have a monthly Zoom call to discuss and plan your social media content for the upcoming month. This includes creating a content calendar and determining if any graphics or multimedia assets, like videos, are necessary.

During these meetings, we will also establish goals for the following month, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and evaluate your social media performance from the previous month. Our collaborative approach ensures that we are consistently optimizing your social media strategy to reach your goals.

With an Invite Them Home social media strategy, you can expect:

  • NCreate Business Profile(s) and Page(s). (One time item if needed)
  • NFind & Follow the target audiences on 4 social platforms. (more or less may be selected based on your needs)
  • NWrite informative posts and create images & banners. (Qty per month)
  • N18 post content creations per month
  • N17 banner images with platform modifications
  • N18 scheduled posts with hashtags on 4 social media platforms
  • NInfographic
  • NSend posts to the target audience groups
  • NFind & Follow new target audience groups (Business, Startup, Entrepreneurs, etc., related to your industry and products)
  • NPublish posts with hashtags as above
  • NSend messages to the target audience related to services
  • NMonthly social media activity and performance report
  • NMonthly 30-minute Zoom call

How much do social media marketing services cost?

A social media marketing company typically charges anywhere from $50-$300 per hour, depending on the services you’re looking for. Many projects cost between $10,000-$50,000 over the first few months.

 

Of course, you can always find bargain services, but not without sacrificing the quality and the overall effectiveness of your social media advertising. Beware of hiring cheap labor for your marketing needs, as it may lead to low-quality work that can damage your business reputation.
The monthly cost of the sample plan above from our team at Invite Them Home is $995/month, not including the cost of boosting or promoting posts, if desired. Your cost could be higher or lower depending on the number of monthly posts and platforms and if you would like to purchase target lists. We would be glad to discuss your situation and find solutions that work within your budget.

 

What does a social media agency do?

 

Our social media marketing agency offers a range of services to help businesses thrive in the digital world:
  • ZCreate or update your business profiles and pages, ensuring they are engaging and appealing to your target audience.
  • ZFind and connect with your ideal customers, ensuring your social media presence reaches the right people.
  • ZOur team of skilled writers will craft informative and engaging posts, keeping your followers informed and interested.
  • ZOur designers will create eye-catching and professional images and banners to increase brand awareness on social media.
  • ZPublish your posts with relevant hashtags to increase visibility and engagement.e.
  • ZSend targeted messages about your services, helping you engage with potential customers directly.

Additionally, we will share your published posts on other social media sites to reach an even wider audience.

Our services are available on popular platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. We understand that each business is unique, so we offer customizable B2B social media marketing plans that can be tailored to your specific needs. The cost of these plans may vary depending on the services you choose to engage with.

Why choose Invite Them Home for online marketing?

Investing in the right social media management services is key if you’re looking to boost your business through social media. We can help you reach your target audiences more efficiently and create a solid strategy to achieve your business goals. If you’re searching for a reliable social media agency, look no further than ITH. With over a decade of experience, we’ve been helping small-medium business owners drive more leads, sales, and revenue online.

Managing your social media presence alone can be time-consuming, costly, and ineffective. Outsourcing to our skilled team will save time and money and give you better results.

Successfully launching a social media marketing campaign requires careful planning, goal setting, and creativity. When you work with ITH, we handle all of this for you. Our expertise and resources will guide your brand through the ever-changing world of social media, reaching more customers and maximizing your return on investment.

Don’t miss out on the benefits of a professional social media agency. Choose ITH for results you won’t get anywhere else!

If you want help managing your social media marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to  Contact Us for a free consultation Team up with us and bring your business’s social circle home!

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