Thanks to the Social Entrepreneur Club at Aquinas College for inviting us to chat about Going Social – using social media to market your business. As part of the presentation we used examples from campaigns we have run on behalf of our clients, such as Lights in the Night GR.
Social media is an essential marketing tool for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It is not the ONLY tool, however an important one.
Businesses are using social media to:
- Connect with customers
- Visibility
- Self-promotion
- Getting news out quickly
As more companies integrate social media into their marketing and communications plans, emphasis needs to be on creating a social media strategy. Without a strategy, you’ll undoubtedly be sucked into a social media time sink with no idea how to measure success.
- Goals and objectives
- Research
- Contacts & content
- Join the conversation – set up the networks
- Cultivate and strengthen relationships
- Measure
- Analyze, Adapt and Improve
Of all the steps in succeeding with social media and marketing, maintaining it takes the most time. You spend a relatively brief time developing the plan and inaugurating it, but you spend the life of your business maintaining, monitoring and improving your strategy. At no point should you ever take anything for granted. At no point should you fall into the pit of self-satisfaction because your plan is working. Never forget that others, very smart and motivated competitors, are studying you and doing their utmost to surpass you in the marketing arena.
Download the full presentation – Going Social.
Sources: Social Media Examiner
