What exactly is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing is just a fancy name to describe selling using social media. It is being used replace old school selling techniques like cold calling and spam emails to find new business.

The art of using social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture sales prospects. It’s the modern way to develop meaningful relationships with potential customers; so you’re the first person or brand a prospect thinks of when they’re ready to buy.

Hootsuite : What is Social Selling?

There are close to 5 billion active users across all the social media major platforms. No doubt online is where you will find the modern buyer.

Step 1 – Who is your buyer?

Don’t do anything until you are clear around this. Understand that not everyone wants to buy what you have.

Social Media Marketing works best if you focus in on your niche. Trying to be everything to everyone is not only exhausting it’s also ineffective.

Keep things simple and focus on two main factors – age group, B2B or B2C. Once you have this you can pick the social media platform that aligns best with this demographic.

Step 2 – Choose one social media platform to start with.

Trying to do too much too quick will have you crash and burn in no time. Then you will be back complaining social media marketing doesn’t work.

There are pros and cons with each social media platform. Understand what they are and work within that.

Step 3 – Commit 30 mins per day.

Social Media Marketing doesn’t happen by magic. It happens by showing up every day and putting in the effort.

The time you spend won’t always be creating content. It can be sending out personalised invitations to connect, liking and commenting on posts, researching topics for content, engaging with groups etc

Consistency leads to outcomes. Social Media Marketing does not deliver overnight results.

If you can’t commit to this for your business then outsource. Good Trading Co have a 100% outsourcing service which you can find out more details here.

Step 4 – It’s not about you!

They key to being successful using social media marketing is never make it about you or your business. No matter how tempting it is to view this as free advertising don’t do it!

People are scrolling through social media wanting to find answers to their own needs and wants. Your job is to create content with this in mind.

Step 5 – Time to start posting content.

Nothing happens if you don’t start posting. It’s easy to keep putting it off waiting for the perfect time. There is no perfect time. There is now.

You aren’t chasing the unicorn viral post. You are posting consistently to stay top of mind.

Posting consistently and refining as you learn more about your audience will pay off. It just takes time to build momentum. Allow minimum of around twelve weeks to notice.

We encourage you to read our article How often should you post on LinkedIn? to learn more.

Step 6 – Comments are key.

Think about this. LinkedIn wants users to stay on the platform for as long as possible to be able to sell their advertising and premium products.

To keep people on the platform it needs to make sure the content is enjoyable for users. It gauges this with the number of likes and comments. Comments are given a higher weighting.

Therefore, if you want the most out of LinkedIn you need to create content that encourages conversation. Any easy way to do this is to ask the audience a question.

Having people answer in the comments is an easy win. Making sure you respond quickly to these comments will boost the performance of your post.

Step 7 – Pay Attention!

Is your ideal client hidden in plain sight? A person that is interacting consistently with your posts is most likely someone that will purchase your product or services at some stage.

They are invested in your brand. They have already signalled their interest.

Make life easy for them. Reach out and ask if there is something you can help with. Stop waiting for customers to throw themselves at your feet.

Everybody wants to deal with someone that takes notice. It’s what builds trust and authenticity.

Step 8 – Build Digital Trust.

Unless you are a digital native that grew up around technology there is an inherent distrust of people on digital platforms being fake. They are always going to be looking to spot a fake.

Digital trust is incredibly fragile. You need to build it and protect it. Think I’m wrong? Two words – cancel culture.

Always be authentic. Never over-promise. Make sure that what you present online as your brand marries up with what your business will deliver.

Step 9 – Manage Your Expectations.

It’s best to think of social media marketing as a marathon and not a sprint. It will take longer than you think and there is actually never really a finish line.

Step 10 – Don’t Give Up.

Becoming disheartened because you aren’t getting likes and comments as much as others is natural. It is not an excuse to give up.

Statistically 99% of users on the LinkedIn platform do not post or engage. Research shows that these same people are still likely to log on every day.

Be part of the 1% club. Those that post consistently. There is so much organic growth waiting to reward you.

For more tips don’t forget to follow Good Trading Co on LinkedIn.