Master Social Media Marketing

Social Media Readiness Checklist 

Think: “Gardening”

Social media marketing is a lot like gardening. A bit of prep needs to take place before you see the fruits of your labor. It’s not a set-and-forget type of thing. Like a garden, social media marketing requires constant tending, but it can be rewarding and simple with a bit of organization.

Here are some tips to put you on the path to greener pastures by leveraging social media for greater ROI.

Plant Seeds

Before you dive into Facebook or Twitter, you need to have a motive. What do you want to achieve? Perhaps you’d like to increase website traffic or drive lead generation. Or maybe you want to increase your brand awareness.

Thinking of the above, what are your goals for your organization when using social channels?

  • Increase website traffic
  • Drive lead generation
  • Increase brand awareness

Increase website traffic

  • Work on improving SEO by researching and choosing appropriate keywords and long-tail keyword phrases.
  • Make your website address (URL) visible in your social media profile. 
  • Share blog posts on social media. 
  • Refer followers who have questions back to your website.

Drive lead generation

  • Share links to gated content, such as eBooks, white papers, and case studies.
  • Host webinars, live videos, or chats.
  • Use targeted social media listening.
  • Conduct polls and surveys and reward participants.

Increase brand awareness

  • Encourage followers to share your posts. 
  • Create content that establishes your company as a thought leader. 
  • Interact with your followers by liking, sharing, and reposting. 
  • Show the benefits of your products and services through pictures and videos.

Plant Seeds

Before you dive into Facebook or Twitter, you need to have a motive. What do you want to achieve? Perhaps you’d like to increase website traffic or drive lead generation. Or maybe you want to increase your brand awareness.

Which social channel are you going to target?

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Snapchat
  • Quora
  • Other

Twitter 

  • Share links to blogs and website content.
  • Initiate tweet chats.
  • Monitor and respond to comments on your products and services.

Facebook

  • Use pages, ads, and groups to promote your brand.
  • Post links to articles on your page.
  • Use Facebook to humanize your brand by showing insider views of your company culture.
  • Ask your followers questions.
  • Take advantage of Facebook’s analytics and targeting tools.

LinkedIn

  • Post articles, videos, and presentations.
  • Create a Company Page and make regular status updates.
  • Use LinkedIn Groups and Influencers to network and make connections.

Instagram

  • Use branded hashtags in your posts.
  • Create a profile and link it to your other social media channels.
  • Post stories and live videos.
  • Respond to comments.

YouTube

  • Think of YouTube as a search engine. Use keywords and meta tags to ensure your videos rank highly.
  • Link videos back to your website.
  • Post videos that show your products and services in action.
  • Create your own YouTube channel for advertising.

Snapchat 

  • Promote behind-the-scenes content.
  • Use images and videos to create compelling stories. 
  • Use your other social media networks to build your Snapchat audience.

Quora

  • Use the question-and-answer forum to get ideas for content.
  • Answer questions about your product or industry. 
  • Include links to your content, such as blog posts, in your answer replies.

Beautify the Landscape

Once you decide which social networks align with your goals, be sure your profiles, both personal and corporate, are rock-solid: professional and approachable.

If you have already established your social profiles, how do you think they measure up?

  • My profiles are solid: professional, approachable, and visually appealing.
  • My profile is almost there. It needs some polishing—maybe a better visual.
  • I need help. My profiles are ineffective and confusing.

My profile is almost there

  • Include keywords and long-tail keyword phrases.
  • Prominently link your website to your profile.
  • Use your bio as an opportunity to present your elevator pitch.

I need help

  • Use high-resolution images.
  • Use fonts and colors consistent with your brand guidelines.

Beautify the Landscape

Once you decide which social networks align with your goals, be sure your profiles, both personal and corporate, are rock-solid: professional and approachable.

If your members have already established their social profiles, how do you think they measure up?

  • My team’s profiles all connect to our corporate social identity. It’s all good.
  • We are inconsistent about having team members connect their social profiles to our corporate identity.
  • My team’s social identities are all over the place. There is no commonality among them.

We are inconsistent about having team members connect their social profiles to our corporate identity

  • Incentivize employees to create posts that relate to your brand.
  • Encourage employees to include information about their company role in their bio.
  • Make pictures of company activities available for posting in employee profiles.

My team’s social identities are all over the place

  • Be clear about branding guidelines and make branding resources available.
  • Provide guidance on using social media, such as instructions for setting up social profiles.

Tend Your Garden

Carve out 15 minutes a day, three times a week, to log in to your social accounts and do some sharing. Thirty minutes would be better, but if all you have is 15, that’s better than nothing. Put it on your calendar so you don’t forget or get scheduled up.

Social Participation

  • I spend a total of about 45 minutes a week posting content on our social channels.
  • I post regularly, but superficially, without depth and detail.
  • I can’t find the time to participate on a regular basis.

I post regularly, but superficially

  • Make creating social media content part of your schedule.
  • Post short-form content that doesn’t take much time to create, such as fun facts, pictures, or GIFs.

I can’t find the time to participate

  • Use automation tools to set up regular posts.
  • Post links to content already published on your website.
  • Use mobile apps for posting on the go.

Tend Your Garden

Carve out 15 minutes a day, three times a week, to log in to your social accounts and do some sharing. Thirty minutes would be better, but if all you have is 15, that’s better than nothing. Put it on your calendar so you don’t forget or get scheduled up.

I have the time, but…

  • I have no issues. I find/develop compelling content and visuals to share.
  • I cannot find/develop compelling content and/or visuals.
  • My posted content is uneven in quality.

I can’t find/develop compelling content

  • Look for ideas on discussion forums.
  • Take advantage of user-created content.

My posted content is uneven in quality

  • Collaborate with your team to create content.
  • Consider forming a creative team to produce content.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The great thing about digital marketing is that it is trackable. People ask about ROI, and when you can show improved website traffic, decreased bounce rates, and increased lead generation, that’s pure ROI. So be sure to set some goals and track how your content is doing.

Measurement

  • We have established a baseline and measure the social media impact on our KPIs on a regular basis.
  • We set goals, but they are not specific or measurable enough.
  • We only measure vanity metrics, such as likes and shares.
  • We have not put a process in place to measure our social media impact on our digital marketing efforts.
  • We are just starting out with digital marketing.

We set goals, but they are not specific or measurable enough

  • Set SMART goals that accomplish specific goals within a timeline. 
  • Measure goals in terms of the number of visits, clicks, and conversions.

We only measure vanity metrics 

  • Look at actionable metrics.
  • Track conversions and engagement, such as filling out forms or commenting.

We have not put a process in place 

  • Take advantage of analytics tools that are included in some social media platforms.
  • Gather metrics using HubSpot tools. 
  • Create landing pages and promotional codes that are specifically targeted to social media followers.

We are just starting out

  • Decide what you want to accomplish with your social media marketing strategy.
  • Establish benchmarks.
  • Decide which KPIs you want to measure.

Stocking the Farmer’s Market

Speaking of content, the most critical factor in achieving social media success and driving ROI is the quality of the content you share. No one wants to be sold to, so focus on content that is valuable. An 80/20 rule of thumb is a good guideline: 80% should be valuable, 20% can be promotional.

Thinking of your content, how would you rate its quality, effectiveness, and relevance?

  • Solid 10s across the board. Our content, both curated and developed, is great.
  • Our content is hit-and-miss. We need to analyze what works and then do more of it.
  • Our content choices don’t generate much interest.
  • Our content focuses on our products instead of thought leadership.

Hit-and-miss 

  • Use CTAs in content so you can track conversions.
  • Use follower comments, likes, and shares to direct content creation.
  • Be consistent with tone and brand messaging.

Content choices don’t generate interest 

  • Look at metrics to see which topics are performing the best and then create multiple pieces around those topics.
  • Look at discussion forums to find out what kinds of questions customers are asking.

Content focuses on products 

  • Focus on being entertaining and informative, not salesy.
  • Do research on industry trends to find current topics.

Plant the seeds for a fruitful social marketing plan. For help getting started, reach out to TSL.

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