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Developing a social media marketing plan means more than posting a few tweets or Facebook status updates. With proper planning, you can increase awareness about
your business.
Social media should not be your only small business marketing outlet. Nor should you ignore the potential of social media marketing. The reasons to consider
developing a social media marketing plan for your small business are extensive and include:
Discover an untapped market – Social media for business can help you discover yet untapped markets for products or services you can develop.
Discover new niche markets – Tying in to untapped markets, you could also find a new niche within your industry and adjust your product/service
offering accordingly to fit your social media plan.
Widen the scope of your target market – Rather than market to locals in your neighborhood, social media for business allows you to expand your current
market to potentially limitless customers around the world.
Improve online sales – Small business social media can help you achieve your online sales goals by expanding your audience reach and engaging with
customers as well as prospective buyers on their preferred methods of communication (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.).
Improve online sales conversions – You can also improve the actual conversion rate of visitors to buyers on your website with a social media plan. Small
business social media allows you to nurture leads and engage with customers in real-time thereby increasing the likelihood of converting a follower/fan to a
customer.
Retain loyal customers – Of course, you’ll want to keep in the minds (and hearts) of current and past customers so they will become repeat business.
Social media enables small business owners and entrepreneurs to keep in contact with their current customer base, maintaining a valuable relationship and
providing constant support.
So how do you formulate a proper and useful social media plan for your small business? Here is our recommended outline:
What type of business are you (i.e. retailer, manufacturer, professional services)?
What is your product or service?
Do you operate out of a retail or office space?
Do you currently have a website?
Does your small business currently use social media?
Which types of social media do you use and how are they working for you?
Who does/will your website serve?
Improve branding
Improve online presence
Increase customer base
Increase website traffic
Improve search results
Increasing revenue
Reduce advertising costs
Use your target market profile to identify who your customers are, what type of social media they use and how you can interact with them on these communication
channels.
There are many social media sites, including some for niche markets that might be a perfect fit for your business. Wikipedia publishes a list of social networking
sites that is worth a look.
Perhaps you are more interested in using social media marketing to help reach your desired online sales conversion rate of 20% within 6 months. Reach a specific
monthly sales objective. Or even achieve a higher per sale average of $15.
Estimate a Hard Figure Budget
While some social media marketing is free and only costs you time and effort, others require a budget. Get real with your financial spending for social media
purposes.
Include items such as web site design or improvement, costs for social media content like photos, infographics, videos, or podcasts, paid social media ads, guides,
articles, quizzes and more – the more engaging your content, the better your chances of spreading the word about your business.
Remember, your advertising costs, whether traditional or online, should help improve your sales and result in a positive ROI.
Spell out how you will use customer feedback, social media tools, and website statistics to determine the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaigns, and
whether the sales attributed to those efforts result in your desired ROI.
Social media marketing should be taken just as seriously as any other traditional advertising efforts. Take the time to formulate your social media marketing plan so
you make the most of your time online.