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10.09.2020 8 ANALYSIS Social Media Marketing Can social media marketing really help my business? Most definitely! It's been proven again and again by business after business. In fact, not utilizing social media marketing can actually harm your business, since having an online presence on social me- dia is simply expected of any reputable firm these days. What are the benefits of social media marketing for my company? Whether your business is taking ad- vantage of it or not, social media has forever changed the way that consumers communicate with businesses, and vice versa. Being accessible to your custom- ers – and your prospective clients – via social media is a vital means of develop- ing relationships with them and helping them through the sales funnel. How should companies measure their social media marketing success? Success is measured using the same metrics you use for any other marketing activity: traffic, leads, and customers. Counting the number of fans or follow- ers you have can help you understand your social media reach, but the bottom line that determines its success is how many people it drives to your site, how many of them are qualified leads, and how many of them actually become cus- tomers. How much does social media marketing cost? What's the ROI? One thing is for certain – social media marketing is never free. Whether you're spending your own valuable time on it, asking an employee to add it to their workload, hiring a social media employ- ee, or outsourcing to a marketing firm, there is always a cost. e key is to get the maximum ROI out of the time or money you put into it. It's important to remember, however, that ROI doesn't have to mean revenue. It can, but it can also mean meeting other objectives, such as getting new leads, increasing email subscriptions, or even boosting custom- er satisfaction. e ROI you end up with is the direct result of how focused your social media marketing strategy is. Which social media platforms should my business have a presence on? ere is no set answer to this question because you need to have a presence wherever your customers are – and dif- ferent businesses have different audi- ences. One demographic spends most of their time on Facebook, while anoth- er really only engages on LinkedIn, and some divide their time equally between three or more sites. Find out where your customers are, and follow them there. Does my company really need a blog for social media marketing? Yes! A blog is one of those non-nego- tiables. Apart from all of the benefits it provides on its own, such as increasing your credibility as an industry expert and providing fresh, keyword-rich content on a regular basis to please the search engines, a blog is a vital component of social media marketing. One of the most effective types of content to post on so- cial media is a link to a blog post. With- out fresh blog posts being shared on a regular basis, you won't have nearly as much to talk about with your fans, and you won't be driving as much traffic to your site, either. Is social media marketing better for B2C or B2B businesses? It's important for both, but in different ways. While B2C businesses can focus on more light-hearted, fun social media posts, B2B businesses need to use social media to share valuable industry con- tent. As a tool for connecting a business with its customers, however, social me- dia is vital to both. How should we be using Facebook for marketing? Facebook is the social media platform of choice for over a billion people world- wide. Use it to connect and interact with your audience, and to share your content in a way that encourages your fans to share it as well. How should we be using Twitter for marketing? Twitter has over 313 million users and is ideal for sharing your content and con- necting with other influencers in your industry. How should we be using LinkedIn for marketing? LinkedIn has over 467 million users. It is a great place to share your credentials with the world, but more important- ly, it's the perfect place to interact with your audience online. Using LinkedIn Groups, you can answer questions and contribute to discussions in order to demonstrate your industry thought lead- ership as well as your willingness to help others generously. Is YouTube important for marketing? Videos are becoming more and more important in the world of social media marketing. YouTube gets over 4 billion views per day! Promote your brand's im- age through a video, let your audience have a peek behind the scenes at your business, or make a how-to video. Is outreach an important part of social media marketing? Guest blogging is one of the most ef- fective and widely discussed methods of outreach, but social media can help your outreach efforts significantly, as well. Connect with other influencers in your industry via social media, and then build relationships with them through con- versations and helping them to promote their content. Building a relationship in this way before reaching out to ask for a guest blogging opportunity can boost your chances of success greatly – and when your audience sees that you regu- larly converse with other experts via so- cial media, they'll see you as an expert, too! How can I take control of my brand online through social media marketing? Taking "control" of your brand isn't really possible anymore, thanks to so- cial media. Whether you're in the con- versation or not, people will talk about you online, and there's no way for you to "control" what they say. But what you can do is join in those conversations, and influence them by being a part of them. From negative reviews on Yelp to cus- tomer complaints on Twitter, the way to influence your audience's perception of your brand is to participate in the con- versations and steer them in a direction you're happy with. Should each department in my company have its own social media initiatives? A company's social media activities don't have to all come from the same place – but they do need to be coordinat- ed, and that can be hard to do when each department is doing their own thing. Sending differing messages causes more confusion to customers than anything else – consistency is key. What type of social media content converts best? is one too depends on your audi- ence. e best way to find out what type of content converts most effectively for you is to test, tweak, and test again until you find the right fit. How much time should social media marketing take each week? Timing is everything in social media marketing. e good news is, by using social media you have the opportunity to reach your specific audience in re- al-time. But even though there are many tools you can use to schedule and au- tomate posts to save some time, you'll also want to keep track of the activity on your social media accounts throughout the day, so that you can provide time- ly responses to audience questions and comments. Between strategizing, creat- ing and posting content and images, re- sponding to your audience, and checking analytics, social media done right can be a full-time job. How long does it take before I'll start seeing results from social media marketing? With social media constantly evolving, this depends on variables such as the time and effort you're putting into so- cial media marketing management, your budget, your audience, your strategy, and whether you're using paid ads or not. Regardless, it's important to remember that social media is a marathon and not a race. What are some common social media marketing mistakes business make? One of the worst mistakes is inconsist- ency – only posting sporadically, and not responding when consumers reach out to engage. Another biggie is using social media as a place to announce your own content and nothing more, without ever engaging in discussions or adding com- ments to the post that make your audi- ence want to click or like or share. What are some general tips for social media success? Post consistently. Let your passion and personality shine through. Engage in conversations. Answer questions. En- courage audience engagement. Provide valuable content freely, without getting salesy. And be creative. Content Marketing What is content marketing exactly? Content marketing turns traditional marketing on its head. Instead of focus- ing on a company and its products or ser- vices, it focuses on the consumer's needs first. e goal of content marketing is to provide valuable, genuinely helpful in- formation to consumers for free, in order to create a relationship with them based on trust, which eventually leads them to make a purchase. What qualifies as content? When most people think of content marketing, they think of a blog. And blogs are certainly one of the easiest and most effective means of content mar- Digital marketing dos and