Social Media Marketing Tips for Better Engagement

By Brittney Gadd
To be the best at something you can never truly be finished learning. With technology drastically changing, you have to adapt with each of those changes to stay relevant. This holds especially true with the ever-changing world of social media marketing. Just when most people thought Facebook took the cake, along came Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, StumbleUpon, Vimeo, YouTube, Tumblr, Viddy and even more.
How do you know where to be, what content to provide and what to expect from marketing efforts on social media services out there? Although there is no definitive answer, there are strategies that we know can help you stay relevant on the social front. When building your business, make sure to use the following tried and true practices for social media marketing.

Dedicate a person (or team) to your social media efforts.
• Having a person devoted to your social media means you have a closer eye capable of keeping up with trends. This can help your brand be a part of the conversation and remain interesting.
• With one voice, you give your brand a stronger identity that your customers can recognize.
• Posts can also be scheduled in advance to optimize potential reach. If one person schedules them, they can maintain a routine so users can know what to expect and when to expect it.

Be on all social sites you can.
• Analyze where your customers are and what they are talking about. Interject yourself in the conversation and begin to create a meaningful relationship with your customers.
• Keeping up on social sites and blogs gives you a way to provide information to your customers and aids in organic search rankings; this allows you to maximize your online visibility while creating a lasting relationship with your consumers.
• Once on social sites, you will want to analyze your efforts and gauge which content provides the best results and how successful you are over time. Know your goals and analyze your progress month-over month.
• Before you get going, make sure you have the proper tools and know how to use them. We recommend starting with Google Analytics on each page of your site. This tool will allow you to track the traffic coming in and what your potential customers do when they get to the site. Set up conversion goals so you can analyze whether or not they completed the desired action.
• For analyzing social success, Facebook has in-depth analytics for free within their insights section. Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and other social sites do not provide in-depth insights and you'll need to use other tools. Sites like Twittercounter.com and SproutSocial.com are great resources to track your progress.

Do not stop adapting your content.
• When you start posting on the different outlets use a wide variety of content. For some companies, pictures and polls have great success on Facebook while other social media services do better with facts and tips to promote better engagement.Utilize the information you gather over time to better your presence on social outlets and provide interesting content for your users.
• Analyze which pieces of content have the greatest reach, likes, shares, repins, retweets, +'s and comments and use that information to better your overall engagement levels. If captions or internal company updates don't get any reaction from users, try replacing it with an industry related video or picture.

Don't get discouraged.
• It takes time to build followers and get strong engagement levels. Be patient and find different ways to promote your social pages.
• Set realistic goals. If your goals cannot be reached in the time frame you aimed for, then reassess your efforts and see what can be changed or bettered.

Align all your marketing efforts.
• If you have traditional marketing campaigns, see if it is possible to promote your social sites within the campaign.
• Make sure the goals of your social media marketing and traditional media marketing campaigns are similar to maximize your results.

Social media isn't for everyone right now, but keep in mind that it is always adapting and may present an amazing opportunity for the growth of your business. Try and understand your goals and your plan of attack before you get going. If you can't dedicate the time necessary to do it right, consider outsourcing your efforts so you can stay consistent.
Article Source: http://www.prmarketing.com/blog/5-social-media-marketing-tips-for-better-engagement/

Ron Goldstein, MBA
Principal
Silver Professionals, LLC.
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