Your social media strategy will be effective only if it integrates well with your marketing strategy and overall marketing mix. Your social media strategy is another tool in your marketing-tool-box; it must complement your brand. It\u2019s only an effective part of your marketing mix if you have proper engagement and mostly if you have clear and defined goals.<\/p>\n

The challenge for most business owners and marketing departments is time and expertise; being able to react in a timely manner and knowing how to do it properly. In the end be sure to have some gauge on the ROI on the time you spend on social media against your defined goals. You don\u2019t have to always generate a sale. Brand awareness and building a community are valid objectives, but they still need to be measured.<\/p>\n

Consider these four tips as ways to help you with your social media strategy. Don\u2019t forget, great content attracts users, users create engagement; so, content is king \u2013 that\u2019s the overarching principle.<\/p>\n

Social Media Strategy Tips<\/h2>\n

1. Storytime<\/h3>\n

Tell a story about your offering. Consumers often buy into something that has meaning \u2013 this is one of the main reasons why there is increasing popularity with social entrepreneurship (entrepreneurs with philanthropic mandates like www.exelaventures.com). For example, if your company promotes \u201cwidgets\u201d that are child-labour-free, stimulating conversation about this topic and then directing them to your company which does not sell \u201cwidgets\u201d made in China, you\u2019ve given your target audience an alternative.<\/p>\n

2. Quality over quantity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you are able to establish a following, you are better off engaging your audience\/customers\/prospects with compelling content rather than hammering out mediocre content frequently. The key is to let them decide what is important \u2013 when that decision is made, they will do the work for you by sharing the content and \u201cspreading-the-word\u201d. By communicating frequently with less compelling content, you risk your audience getting annoyed with you and leaving you.<\/p>\n

3. Trial and Error<\/strong><\/p>\n

The nature of social media is dynamic. So, you\u2019re not going to get it right the first time. Be prepared to experiment with different approaches. The focus needs to be on consumer engagement. You don\u2019t know exactly what your audience likes until you test out some content and strategies with them. Be patient with it and when you find out what drives your audience, let them do the rest of the work but stay engaged.<\/p>\n

4. Know Your Limits<\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be on every platform. Once you have completed your Target Market Persona assessment, you will know exactly where your target market \u201ceats, sleeps, reads, works, and plays\u201d. Focus on 1 or 2 platforms at the beginning and do them well; don\u2019t over extend your reach and be present on platforms you have no activity on. It\u2019s not good for your brand. In addition, it\u2019s important to recognize whether or not you need to out-source your social media strategy. There are many good companies available that can manage all aspects, from content creation to bid-management to posting to analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your social media strategy will be effective only if it integrates well with your marketing strategy and overall marketing mix. Your social media strategy is another tool in your marketing-tool-box; it must complement your brand. It\u2019s only an effective part of your marketing mix if you have proper engagement and mostly if you have clear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2533,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions\/2533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.giantmarketingsolutions.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}