If you're new too social media and wondering to your self "How is social media going to help grow my business", then you are in the same boat as many other companies. Social media is becoming the norm for marketers and small business owners as a way to market your company to the world. It has become an integral part of marketing for some of the biggest companies in the world too. Companies like Coca-Cola and Nike use Facebook to engage with their tens of millions of fans, as well as offer customer support to any unsatisfied fans. But companies like Nike and Coca-Cola have fans that are built in to the brand and are eager to engage with them. How is a small business suppose to grow a following of highly engaged fans that not only are interested in what you have to say, but are also fans that will someday be customers.
The path to growing a following lies in four letters - P.O.S.T.
The concept was developed by Forrester Research. It was explained to me in a book by Mari Smith called ' The New Relationship Marketing". (My girlfriend looked at the title of the book and said "Are you leaving me?!?!") Post stands for People, Objective, Strategy, and Technology. This strategy is meant to help simplify the steps that it takes to find out who am I directing my message to, what do I want to accomplish with my message, how am I going to get people to engage with me on social networks, and what tools am i going to use to help me with my message. The problem that some companies have is that they go disregard the people, objective and strategy and just go right to technology. They start a Facebook page and a Twitter page and start shooting message out to anyone who seems to be listening, which will most likely be a very select few. Then they look at their Facebook insights or their Google Analytics and realize that they have barely any engagement and say "This Facebook thing doesn't work at all!" But it does work. You just have to no how to work it. Just follow these steps to get started and you'll be the social butterfly that you always wanted to be.
People - It all starts with people. We aren't talking about your best friends from first grade, we're talking about the people that you want to influence to buy your product or service. What we want to know about these people is; Who are the people that could be interested in our services? Where do we find them? What influences them? These three questions are so important when starting social marketing. Maybe you're market isn't even using social media at all. At that point, you probably shouldn't be spending too much time on Facebook.
Objective - You need to set a clear objective for your company and your brand. What is your main goal here? What do you want to accomplish? More recognition? More Fans? Sales? The decision is up to you but it needs to be clear and concise.
Strategy - This is an often overlooked step, but probably one of the most important. How are you going to get people interested in your brand? How are you going to hook them in and have them like your page? A contest? Awesome content that they couldn't pass up? Whatever it may be, make sure their is more in it for them and less in it for you.
Technology - Most people skip the previous three steps and just hop right into the technology. It's almost impossible to do anything on social networks without knowing where you're going. The first three steps are imperative to complete thoroughly. After completing the first three steps, you will need to assign certain tools to communicate with your audience, track who is engaging with you, and analyze the data you are receiving from your fans.
Following these steps is the easiest way to get your social media marketing campaign off and running. For more information on social media marketing, I highly suggest the book by Mari Smith "The New Relationship Marketing". Also, you can contact AndPlus for some creative and highly effective ways to integrate your company and website with social media.