by David Brown
Certified Content Marketer
The most important questions that can be asked when planning social media marketing for a small business include the following : What? Who? When? Where? How?
1) What are the Goals for Engaging in Social Media for my Business or Practice?
For some, profits are not the only goal. Local reputation and recognition, a creative and fun hobby, educational purposes, or other motives may be the objectives. By having goals then it becomes easier to track progress and measure the results. A simple example : one client has a goal of 1000 Facebook fans on their business page. Once that is achieved, then other goals may be created to include certain profits, or remodeling estimates and projects from various marketing campaigns to that captive audience. Goals may change, plans may change, and that is okay, and a creative approach to planning.
2) Who is the Creator of the Campaigns? Who is the Target Audience?
Example : An assisted living facility has a target audience of females age 55 and up, which is the norm for family caregivers. They may eventually need to make a decision for their elderly loved one to move into assisted living. The author of the posts is the business. The creator of the posts is a content marketer paid on a monthly retainer.
3) When is the Best Time to Launch a Campaign, or Series of Campaigns?
If a social media marketing plan has been developed, then the best time to launch is after the plan is complete. There is a track to run on. The types of social media accounts have been chosen, the budget for fees and advertising has been determined and allocated, and the monitoring/reporting has been decided so that a campaign becomes a part of an ongoing plan, rather than a sporadic, unplanned event. More specifically, metrics have shown what days and times of day are the most productive for publishing and they vary among different types of social media. One study showed that mornings are usually better for posting, afternoons for reading and sharing, and evenings for viewing Pinterest, a more relaxing visual venue.
4) Where is the Best Place to Market for Social Media?
In a 2014 survey of over 2800 social media marketing consultants, Facebook was preferred three times as much as Linked In. If a small business is on a small budget, then the best places for social media marketing help to maximize dollars spent based on experience and results from others. Twitter and Pinterest also have their particular opportunities, and Instagram is being used more and more by a younger demographic. For a ballroom dancing business who wants to offer more night club and hip hop classes, Instagram marketing may be a better focus than Facebook.
According to Business Insider, Over 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35,
which makes it an attractive platform for many apparel, entertainment,
and media brands focused on the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket.
What are the best types of subject matter to post in social media?
Photos are by far the most engaging item to use for social media. Most people have a lot of information overload when they are on the internet. Facebook news feeds are so full of shares by friends that not all of them may be seen. To compete with all of this a large, stunning photo may have a better chance of getting seen than a smaller average type of photo.
5) How Do We Implement the Marketing Plan?
In the next blog - Social Media Marketing Plan - FAQ - Part 2, we discuss how to implement a marketing plan, including the content marketing options and strategies of social media marketing. What works and why, and show actual examples of creative posts that we have done that have had strong engagement. Subscribe to this blog to be updated when this is published.
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Authored by
David Brown
David Brown is an award winning internet marketing consultant and Certified Content Marketer. As owner of Logion Web Design, he has been in the SEO, web design, and content marketing industry since 1999. He is the sole author and publisher of this blog, Likes, Tweets and SEO, and also is the owner of Dentist Webmaster LLC, launched in 2013. He offers consulting and is accepting qualified accounts for monthly advanced SEO and content marketing services. His dog's name is Shaman.
Authored by
David Brown
