7 Social Media Tactics Your 2013 Budget Needs to Succeed [Research]
To improve your marketing results from your social media strategies, start by acknowledging that consumers are active on social media venues to socialize.
To improve your marketing results from your social media strategies, start by acknowledging that consumers are active on social media venues to socialize.
As social media matures, it’s no longer a test outside of your budget. Adding to this pressure, social media conversion rates are low relative to other marketing strategies. Therefore you must coordinate and integrate social media marketing into your overall marketing plans to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
To get your 2013 marketing plans on track to increase revenues, here are seven social media tactics based on solid research that you need now. (BTW, use these charts to persuade your management team!)
Actionable marketing tip: Encourage customers to share your information on social media venues. Additionally, use social media advertising to target your audience and to send them to your page rather than off of the social media site.
Actionable marketing tip: Build owned media in the form of a blog and video. Then distribute this content on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter in addition to social sharing.
Actionable marketing tip: At a minimum, have a mobile strategy to ensure that consumers can access your site from your social media location regardless of whether they’re using a computer, smartphone, or tablet.
Actionable marketing tip: Develop useful content shoppers seek before they purchase. Answer their questions, show them how to use your products, and provide customer reviews.
Actionable marketing tip: Create an integrated content strategy around photographs using Facebook, Pinterest, and/or Instagram.
Actionable marketing tip: Build an email house file to continue the dialogue with prospects and then convert them.
To improve your marketing results from your social media strategies, start by acknowledging that consumers are active on social media venues to socialize. Then leverage the power of social media to engage with prospects, customers, and the public to build trust and continue your relationships on email and other owned media where you can convert them to sales.
What other social media-related research are you using to build your 2013 marketing plans and why?
Happy marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Editor’s note: This column was originally published on August 20, 2012, and was the seventh most popular column of the year on ClickZ in 2012. Over the final two weeks of the year, we’ve celebrated the Best of 2012 by revisiting our most popular columns, as determined by our readers. We hope you have enjoyed this look back!