It’s no secret that managing a corporation isn’t easy, which is why it’s vital that you discover and implement the most effective methods for digital marketing. Any strong company needs to connect with customers. Working in a service-based industry means you’re frequently interacting with customers in person and during service calls, but are you reaching new clients digitally? More importantly, are you effectively utilizing social media as a way to connect with potential clients who are in need of your services?
As a service provider, you know all about delivering great customer service and reliable products, but do you know what it takes to conquer the world of digital marketing? Even if you don’t have a thorough background in marketing or sales, it’s possible to utilize social media effectively in a way that will help you reach more clients and build a brand that potential clients will trust and count on. Here’s what you need to know.
Planning
One of the most important elements of dominating the world of social media is to plan accordingly. Never jump into social media marketing before you know what you’re getting into. A few misplaced Facebook posts or awkward tweets can drastically impact your viewership’s opinion of you. Make a solid plan that showcases how you’re going to market and that determines what your marketing goals are. You can move forward from there.
How to get started
Determine what your specific marketing goals are. These will vary based on the type of services you’re offering or what specific products or packages you’re currently promoting. Do you want to offer a coupon to your current client base? Are you trying to increase your base number of customers? Are you simply interested in building your brand’s reputation? The way that you market and promote your organization will determine how you begin marketing.
You’ll also need to decide how you’re going to reach your target audience. Are you going to use several social media platforms or are you going to stick with one? Many brands choose to become comfortable utilizing a single platform before moving on to other sites. This is an effective way to make sure you’re reaching people in the way that you want and in a manner that makes sense to them. The rules for posting on Twitter, for example, are quite different from Facebook’s policies. It’s not a bad idea to carefully consider focusing on one platform before you move on to another.
As a service provider, make sure you thoroughly understand your own services and benefits that you’re offering to customers. If you’re not sure what you have to offer your clients, your marketing may be rendered ineffective, so focus on developing a solid knowledge base of your services, pricing tiers, and benefits.
Creating an effective marketing plan
It’s vital that you develop a thorough marketing plan that details how much you plan to spend on marketing, how much time you want to invest in this aspect of your brand, and what your goals are. What do you hope to achieve from this marketing endeavor? Are you interested in building your reputation or your client base? Are you trying to promote a specific type of service or a particular service package? Understand what your goals are so you can begin working toward them. Developing a marketing plan is incredibly important as it gives you a tangible way to measure how successful your marketing efforts truly are.
Identifying your audience
It’s no secret that identifying your audience is key, so make sure you understand exactly who is buying your services. This will help you to determine which social media platforms are best for you to begin using. For example, the people who use Facebook aren’t the same people who use Instagram. While there is often overlap between different social media platforms, understand that many adults are segregated based on their age, physical location, and educational background. Understanding your particular client base and target audience will help enable you to effectively reach the clients you want to.
Tactics
After you determine which platform will work best for your potential client base, it’s time to start effectively focusing on tactics designed to connect you with clients. There are several popular methods for reaching customers through social media targeted marketing. Here’s what you need to know.
Paid ads
If you’ve ever been browsing Facebook or Twitter and noticed a small “Sponsored” tag at the bottom of a post, you’ve seen a paid ad. Paid ads are an effective way to reach specific audiences who use your social media platform of choice. When you choose to pay for an ad, you’ll be able to specify what age range, gender, economic background, educational background, and personal lifestyle preferences users are required to have in order to view your ad. This enables you to accurately target your ad specifically to certain parties. For example, if you want to target your ad toward female homeowners who are politically liberal with college degrees and who enjoy reading, you can do so. If you want to target your ad toward male students who enjoy skiing, you can specify this, as well.
Paid ads enable you to track how many times your ad has been viewed and how often users engage with it. This could include “liking” your post, sharing it, or even clicking on an enclosed link. If you include a promo code that is specific to your marketing campaign, you’ll be able to further track how effective your ad is. Analytics are key when it comes to reaching new audiences, so make sure you regularly assess how effective your paid ad is performing. Sometimes you may need to adjust your keywords or target phrases in order to better reach your chosen demographic, so don’t be afraid to try several sponsored ads to find a style that works for you.
Giveaways
Another popular way to expand your brand using social media is to utilize giveaways to reach your target audience. Note that this does not need to be something that breaks your budget. You don’t need to give away a free Internet package or a year’s supply of your services. In fact, your giveaway doesn’t even need to be something provided by your company. Hosting a giveaway is simply a way to get users to engage with your page, to like your social media profiles, and to share your posts and information with their friends. You can give away a gift certificate to a local restaurant, computer accessories, art supplies, gifts, or something entirely different. The possibilities are endless.
Make sure you choose an item that particularly appeals to your target demographic. Then write an engaging and interesting post advertising your services, as well as the giveaway. You can choose to utilize a giveaway manager, such as Rafflecopter, but if you prefer to manage your own giveaway, you may do that, as well. Ask users to like, share, and comment on your post for entries. You may also request that they “tag” a friend in your post. This will help your giveaway to spread throughout the social media site you’re using and can be an effective way to reach new viewers.
Content
Never underestimate the value of incredible content. It’s important that you write engaging and thoughtful posts to share on your social media page. These may be related to your services in particular, but it’s also effective to write about a variety of topics present in your industry. For example, if you’re a commercial printer, you can share information on effectively copying or producing documents. You can offer information on different types of ink or products. You can even discuss the best ways to effectively use printing services in local businesses. Make sure your content is interesting and applicable to your target audience. It’s also a good idea to close each post with a question to encourage discussion among your target audience.
Post variety
Make sure you post a variety of content. Don’t just share pictures, memes, or jokes with your audience. Similarly, you shouldn’t just post about your services. Readers who use social media frequently may become bored with repetitious posts, so it’s important that you use different types of content to keep your readers continually interested. Consider creating a posting schedule or even hiring a social media manager to create a schedule for you. You may also choose to pre-schedule posts with a service such as HootSuite or SocialMedia Jukebox. These sites enable you to upload your posts and share them at designated times. If you want to minimize the amount of time you spend on social media while simultaneously engaging your audience on a regular basis, creating an effective schedule can help you stay on track with the least amount of stress.
Best Practices
As you learn to navigate the world of social media marketing, make sure you focus on creating a fantastic experience for your audience. It’s important that you keep your target demographic in mind as you create your marketing plan and utilize targeted posts, as this will help you to focus on what works for your audience, as well as what will encourage them to engage with you on social media. With that in mind, there are a few practices you should implement immediately in order to get the most out of your social media experience.
Pictures and images
If you’re planning to just share links or content, you need to stop now. Viewers who browse your social media page and just see blocks of text or constant links will become bored and uninterested. You need to create a variety of posts that will encourage engagement. One of the best ways to do this is to share pictures or images along with your content. This also encourages users to share your posts with their friends, colleagues, and family members, which can further extend your client base and your social media reach.
Reliability
Users will have the chance to message you specifically. Note that when users message you, you should try to respond as quickly as possible. Your response rate, as well as your response time, will be displayed on your social media page for audiences to see. Keeping a fast, high response rate will help ensure that your viewers trust your brand. Never respond to readers and ask them to call your office for more information. They messaged you on the Internet for a reason. Instead, cater to their specific needs and preferences by offering them the assistance they need directly through social media. Remember to be prompt, polite, and professional with each interaction.
Frequency
It’s also vital that you post on a regular basis. Ideally, you should post at least once a day; however, you may choose to post more frequently if you have a variety of content, pictures, images, and specials you can share with your audience. It doesn’t matter how often you post, but you do need to be consistent. If someone stops by your page and you haven’t updated it in over a week, they’ll believe that your company isn’t active on social media and they may, in turn, choose to utilize the services of a different organization.
ROI
Your ROI is important. You likely have a reasonable budget, so it’s vital that you choose to market in ways that effectively make the most of this spending. Aim to keep your costs low by focusing on ways to engage your customers and by utilizing ads, coupons, and targeted posts to reach your appropriate demographic more easily.
Managing your ROI with marketing
When you choose to pay for ads, you’ll be able to view analytics and reports that show you how much you’re paying per-click or per-engagement. Note that engagements include when someone “likes” or comments on your post. If you run an ad that has a low ROI with a high per-click fee, you may need to modify your ad to be more effective to your chosen audience. It’s vital that you pay attention to your analytics and data reports in order to ensure you aren’t overpaying for your marketing. You may also choose to set daily spending limits on your social media platform of choice. This can help further reduce your spending.
Choosing effective and budget-friendly marketing tactics
There are a variety of budget-friendly marketing tactics you can utilize to make the most of your ads. Remember that you don’t have to go all out and throw a lot of money at your ads. In fact, you shouldn’t. Start small with a few specific ads that have targeted demographics. If one of your ads begins to perform well, you can adjust your budget accordingly to run that ad more frequently or to reach more people. Similarly, if you’re marketing on a tight budget, you don’t need to spend a lot of money paying for social media giveaways when you can run your own. Most marketing services offered through social media sites are designed to minimize the amount of time and effort you need to exert. You can reduce your spending by taking on more of the work yourself, including writing your own copy and running your own giveaways.
Tracking your ROI
Review data reports on a regular basis. Ideally, you should review these reports each day to ensure your ads are hitting your chosen demographic effectively. If your clicks-per-view is low, for example, you either need to adjust your ad or adjust your demographics to be more effective. Also make sure you track all of your spending, including receipts for giveaway items and various ads, to ensure you’re utilizing the best advertising methods for your budget. It’s easy to overspend when you don’t appropriately track each expense, so pay careful attention to your data.
The world of digital marketing may seem tricky to enter, but the truth is that you have many options you can utilize when it comes to reaching new audiences, connecting with your current clients, and expanding your customer base. Using social media effectively is important in today’s digital era, so make sure you take the time to utilize integrated marketing in promoting your brand.
If you have any questions, our team would be more than happy to help. Call us today at 215-393-9787.
