3 Tips to Creating a Killer Social Media Marketing Strategy

As one of the most popular channels to find an audience, marketing on social media sites can transform a small business from unknown to an empire overnight.

Although marketing over social media might seem simple and straightforward, there are certain techniques and strategies that can optimize business success if followed. Here are three tips to get you started:

1. Who Is Your Audience?

With multiple social media avenues such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and YouTube, businesses should not look to infiltrate every social media site. Rather, businesses should pick a few to master in order to achieve small business success.

First and foremost, determine who your target audience is. Certain social demographics will be far more valuable to you than others, thus finding which sites will reach people likely to find your business useful will be beneficial to your business. Additionally, keep in mind social sites that work easily on mobile phones and tablets, for most social media interaction is over portable wireless devices.

According to Heather Wied, Pubsoft Director of Marketing, “This is something that gets lost in small business strategy. You want to be on all the different networks because you want the most exposure, but you should focus your efforts and use networks where your customers are.”

For example, businesses looking to reach millennials should focus their efforts into Instagram and Stumbleupon, while a business wanting to reach professionals or B2B should consider LinkedIn.

2. Choose Networks That Interest YouSocial media marketing can be time consuming. In order to gain traffic from online sites, it is important to be consistent. For those who dislike a certain site, such as Pinterest or Facebook, chances are you won’t be as likely to pin consistently or update your page as often.

Certain social media sites are easier to use than others and attract more traffic than others. Find the ones that interest you or your marketing team, and harness your energy into those few sites. Understanding how a social media site works in terms of marketing can be a hassle. So, if you have little interest in actually being on the site, skip it, and find a site that works best for you.

3. Time And EnergyMarketing on social media takes time. To effectively market over social media sites, companies need to be strategic in their process. In order to gain the most success from your online efforts, you need to be marketing during prime time hot spot hours applicable to each site.

Posting your social media updates at the right times is key to improving your presence on any social network. With each site, optimal marketing times vary. However, a good rule of thumb is to market consistently and during peak hours such as early in the morning and in the evening when most people are most likely to check their profiles.

Social media can effectively promote your business. Find a schedule and rhythm that works well for your company and begin your marketing strategy.

Original Post from bigmarketingsmallbusiness.com