How To Begin Marketing On Social Media

Read Time: 5 min

With technology on the rise and businesses shifting online, companies now understand that they need to incorporate social media in their marketing strategies in order to be relevant and reach their target audiences. You’re probably asking yourself “Where do I begin?”. There are numerous aspects of social media to think about as you get started with putting a  strategy in place. First and foremost, like any business endeavor you undertake, you want to identify your goals, why you’re implementing a social media marketing plan, and what you hope to accomplish.

Step One: Do Your Research

As far as determining the type of content you want to post and share, you should think about the tone you’ll use and how you will entertain, educate, or provide value for your users. To get an idea of where to start follow the social activities of others, particularly brands whose approach you like. Set up keyword search streams, using Google Alerts or similar tools, to gain insight into what the industry is saying, what your customers think is trendy and what your competitors and complementary businesses are doing. This allows you to stay on top of what’s happening in your industry to ensure you are always providing timely, relevant and attention-grabbing content.

Step Two: Create A Content Calendar

Build an easy-to-follow calendar of your social media activity, indicating which social media sites you’ll post to and how often (weekly, twice-weekly, daily) you’ll want to post at least weekly. Posts can be blog articles, upcoming news and events,  conversation starters on industry hot topics and trends, surveys/polls, giveaways, images, videos and live streams. Be sure your content is related to your business and is helpful to your target customers. Posting content that is engaging is highly valuable to your strategy as most social media platforms heavily favor active engagement. This means creating content that sparks conversation and acquires likes, comments, and shares.

Step Three: Strategically Schedule Posts

Timing is everything when posting because you want as many people as possible to see your posts. Schedule your social media posts for when your users are most active.

Step Four: Analyze and Revise

Analyze metrics such as click-throughs on links, conversions, reach, engagement and other data provided by Google Analytics and similar tools to get a sense of which messages are resonating. This will help you determine whether your scheduling is spot on, what’s generating followers, what content isn’t working, etc. Metrics will tell you if your social media strategy is succeeding and help you to improve your content.

Still not sure if you want to start marketing your business online or don’t have the time? You may want to consult with a marketing expert with proven experience in working with social media. At Rinard Media we offer social media marketing programs to help guide you through the process of social media marketing. Have any questions? Feel free to contact us today!