Planning Is Important With Your Social Media Marketing Plan

Before you can run out and jump into the complex world of television domination and plugging your company during the Super Bowl, you need to start somewhere. That "somewhere" should always consist of a good social media marketing plan. If you approach this correctly and follow the right advice, it will put you over top of the competition. You just need to handle it with more self confidence.

Create an open forum in which you allow customers to be part of your creative process. You will be surprised at how well your customer base can help you brainstorm an idea, create the "blueprint", and lay out the best implementation of the idea. When you have this kind of input coming from your customers, it is safe to assume they will buy when launched.

Determine ahead of time if you really want an active, ongoing dialog with customers. If increasing sales is your main goal, then use social media solely as an advertising channel. If you want to get on a level with your customers that requires back and forth, start off simple and just say "Hello." Your customers will lead you from there.

Post new updates as often as possible. The busy people who use social networks are accustomed to frequent updates and if you fail to provide them, you might be putting your business at a serious disadvantage. Make an effort to provide updates several times per week.

Sign up for Twitter. Get as many followers as you can by signing up for blogging sites like Tweepi.com. Using a site like this makes it easier for people to find you on Twitter. Tweet regularly about other bloggers. You should also automate your tweets so they aren't forgotten about by your followers.

To make sure your social marketing campaign is reaching your customers, find out where they congregate. Are many of them on Facebook or do they prefer Twitter? Depending on your niche, you might be better off looking at LinkedIn or even YouTube. Poll your customers and find out where they spend their internet hours. Pitch your tent there.

Connect your blog to Linkedin by putting a share button at the top of the page. Because of its nature, Linkedin has users who are generally people with influence who have higher incomes, meaning plenty of potential customers with money to spend on your products and services. With more than 100 million people using Linkedin, it is a great opportunity using social media to market your business without spending a dime.

You can't use Twitter effectively without hashtags. Tags go after the # symbol and allow your feed entries to appear for users that have joined certain groups. Wisely choose the tags you use and keep an eye out for groups that you think your target audience will like.

Use the questions and answer feature of LinkedIn. LinkedIn's Q&A works like a large discussion forum: look up questions related to your products or industry and write useful answers to them. You could also post a link to one of your articles if you do not have time to write something.

Social network marketing is relatively new. You should try posting different kind of content and following new trends. Keep track of how interested your audience seems and stop using techniques that do not work well. You will be able to develop successful strategies through a process of trial and error.

When your customers want to contact you on your social media, always respond in a timely manner. Do not let messages sit for days unread. Your customers and followers are taking the time to write, so from a customer service perspective. It is good customer service to respond to messages and comments at least on a daily basis

Regarding retweets, acknowledge them when you do them and when they are done to you. What this means is if you like what someone tweeted, use "RT" and paste in their @name and the message. This gives them credit for the content. And, if someone retweets your content, thank them. These are simple courtesies.

When using Facebook to market your company's services or products, only share items that are worth sharing or are interesting. Resist the urge to fill the page with content just to have a presence. You can share content which is hilariously funny or amazing to watch, but it should always be factual and relevant. Choose information that is relevant and interesting. Don't make a habit of posting quizzes and surveys that are, for the most part, irritating and worthless to your potential buyers.

Fill out as much information as you can about your company on your Facebook page. Don't make it feel impersonal; put that little extra effort and write a small bio and upload a company logo and pictures from your company that pertain to meetings, parties, promotions etc. Help future customers understand what your company is all about so that it doesn't seem to be just a logo on the web.

Blogging is a great example of social media marketing. Make sure that you take advantage of owning a blog to market your products and services to consumers. Post regularly on your blog so you can get exciting information out to the world, but also to remind people that you exist and so does your blog. People tend to forget about blogs that aren't often updated as they lose interest and move on.

When you are using a blog for social media marketing, keep your readers interested. Keep your blog fresh with articles that educate your readers or inspire them in some way. Put effort into your blog, as it is the face of your business in that medium. The better your blog, the bigger your potential for success.

If followed and applied correctly through a good product, everyone profits and everyone is happy. That is the goal of an SMM strategy. As quickly as possible to get in there and get out with enough time to catch some sleep and start all over again. Just depends on your drive and motivation.