How to Be Successful in Social Media Marketing

To be successful in social media marketing, companies need to engage with their target audience. Below are some tips on how to do this successfully: 1) Find followers: You can't engage in social media if you don't have any followers. For our MediaFirst clients, we research journalists, reporters and editors in the supply chain, transportation, logistics, warehousing, IT, telecom, sales/marketing, chemical, manufacturing, and other markets. We follow these reporters, and typically they will follow our clients back. That is the first step of engagement. 2) Post relevant content that your audience wants to read. You can post or tweet about your company and its offerings, but do it in a ration of 1:5 - one tweet about your company to 5 tweets about something in the industry, one of your clients, analyst report, etc. 3) Know how much and when to post: - Blog Post: Write 1-3 blog posts per week, utilizing your target keywords. Blog about an industry issue, not just about your products and services. Share the link of the blog post on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. - Twitter: Send 2-3 tweets daily; retweet 2-3 times a day. Tweet about business related topics and on occasion about your products or company, such as the fact that you will have a booth at a certain industry conference. - Facebook: Find and "Like" 5 new pages/week. These pages can be for magazines, customers, competitors, industry analysts, etc. Post 2-3 times per day. Ask people to like and share your posts. - LinkedIn: Update 2-3 times per day with interesting content. Join LinkedIn Groups that consist of your target audience, such as Supply Chain. Send your press releases, blog post links, and other relevant information to these groups. The groups send out an email to their group members - so its like free email marketing! Connect with 3-5 new people per week; follow 3 new companies a week. - Google+: Share content 2-3 times per day on Google+. Add people to your circles by searching for your target audience, such as reporters and editors. - Pinterest: Pinterest has a unique demographic of young women, however, many businesses are starting to join Pinterest. If you have pictures of your products, photos inside your customers' facilities, or other visually appealing images that showcase your products and services, then post them on a monthly basis. - YouTube: Create a video that showcases an area of your business expertise. Invite people to like and share your video. Another idea is to take a video camera to a trade show and interview people who visit your booth or exceptional presentations. If you follow these tips, you will be successful at social media. MediaFirst offers social media services for our clients, so if you'd like to talk with us about a social media campaign, contact Jim at jim@mediafirst.net.