What does the the web mean for a new business and their online social marketing plan options? A lot, actually.
Single-handedly though, the greatest advantage that came with the arrival of the internet is that it makes for an incredible means for communication—and for small businesses that develop a social marketing plan fully integrated with the web, there are endless opportunities for promotion, connection, and instant communication and increase in chance of actually connecting with your target audience.
In 2018, the band-wagon for online social marketing is already pretty full—and that’s why we see new reaches and leaps forward in technology and digital communication everyday—but not every business is on board with us still! New businesses, online start-ups, and small businesses developing a social marketing plan for the first time, can oftentimes find their way around the social web much smoother with a guide.
Social Marketing Plan For The Web | Where, Who, What, Why, and When?
There are several things to talk about when strategizing. While many new businesses think that Facebook and Twitter alone will do the trick, that’s not the case for everyone. In fact, there are thousands of places to be online as a business, and degrees of engaging, but if you factor in really simply: a) what you’re doing and why, b) who you’re affecting and connecting with, and c) how well you can do it all, then you are greeted with limitless opportunity.
So, where, who, what, why, and when…? The fun part about a marketing plan in action is building off of your existing brand image every day in what can be both indirect and direct, and impersonal and quite personal, ways. A precursor to your enacted social marketing is having a firm foundation for your branding and your purpose as a company—new or old.
If you’re looking for a clearer path for constructing your online social marketing plan here are some helpful tips on integrating important aspects of social marketing into your businesses’ promotional and social marketing strategies.
Blogging
Blogging is crucial in your social marketing plan if you’re looking to either directly search engine optimize (SEO) your content to reach your audience through their searching – or – somewhat directly strategically share your blog content on platforms to reach your audience through their social browsing. Either way, you want to bring some substance to the table – something to eat, and something to talk about.
Beautifully branded company websites can make for a nice, supplement to your business image, but having a company blog goes miles beyond aesthetic appreciation – the credibility factors found in today’s climate of business in digital atmospheres just simply places more value on function and value itself. Offering expertise, helpful information, interest, entertainment, and appropriate media and content for your blog equals not just one thing—VALUE!—but utilizing blogging and SEO and social networking in unison equals success and reaching your audience if done right. They really all go hand-in-hand. Here are two invaluable tips for providing incredible value through your blog:
- Stand out from the crowd and find your voice. Internet Marketer Jack Humphrey pins the tail on the donkey, “Your competition is colorful, like Facebook and Angry Birds.”
- Create an editorial schedule for your blog. Perform thorough market research and build a calendar of content that will mix things up, while still offering your readers solutions to problems and resourceful information. Using keyword research as a basis for your blogs’ social marketing plan can also be quite useful.
Social Networking
Where else should you be promoting? An online social marketing plan obviously encompasses: social platforms, social media, social networking, social bookmarking. They intertwine in all kinds of ways, but for the less familiarized in the surroundings: Social platforms are the ‘where’; they can be social networking or social media sites, but social media the content—the ‘what’—that is passed along through social networking or social bookmarking. For an effective plan, you’re going to determine the ‘who’, ‘why’, and ‘when’ based on your target audience and where they are networking, bookmarking, sharing, and communicating.
There are tons of narrowly niche social websites, and finding the right platforms for your business will take some effort in completion because it’s not going to happen over-night.
To get your feet planted in the right spots, here are some more bits of advice the pros have shared:
“Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.”
“If content is king, then conversion is queen.”
“Today people don’t trust companies. One of the things marketers want to do is to humanize their brand. What better way to do it than put a live person in front of them.”
“Social media can be an enabler and an accelerator of existing core capabilities, values, attributes and plans. It can even be a catalyst for change. But it can’t magically create what doesn’t exist.”
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