Here, On Social Media!

If you don't know by now about social media, I would be very concerned for your well-being. Social media is great for connecting with people across the globe, especially by marketing and advertising standards. Consumers can now have a personal connection with their favorite companies, so it's very important to have a really good social media presence online. Today we are going to explore the "12-Step Guide for Social Media Marketing Success (Infographic)" given by Kimberlee Morrison of Social Times. We'll also Spotlight a successful company on social media: NBC.

12 Steps with Morrison & Social Media Marketo

With a beautiful infographic presented in this post by Kimberlee
Morrison and originally created by Social Media Marketo, you can easily create an effective social media strategy. Remember how we discussed in my first post how you should always have a plan for blogging like how Dora the Explorer always needs the Map? Well, get ready to "Vamanos!" You're going to need a plan for your social media campaign as well. Here are the 12 steps that Morrison presents and Social Media Marketo shows us for getting there:

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"Define Target Audience"

The #1 rule that all marketers should follow: KNOW WHO YOU'RE CONSUMERS ARE. Don't try to promote yourself as something that won't attract your consumer, and don't try to promote yourself to every single type of consumer at once. Start with one type, and then later you can branch out depending on the success of your campaign.

"Research Buyer Persona"

Learn what your consumers want and need. This is where you would figure out what interests your consumers.

"Research Influencers"

See what and who has sway over your consumers. What are their favorite companies? What are their interests? Do their demographics have an effect on their purchasing behaviors?

"Identify Social Media Platforms Used by Buyer Persona"

Know where your consumers are interacting with one another. Don't stop at just the bigger ones that pop into your head, such as Facebook and Twitter. There are also people on Snapchat, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc.

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"Look at Competitor's Preferred Social Platforms"

Where do your business rivals participate the most in the social media world? Evaluate what they do, and try to go one step further with your campaign methods.

"Produce Content That Addresses Buyer Persona Pain Points"

By "pain points", we mean your consumer's issues (qtd. in Morrison). With your social media campaign, how are you going to fulfill your consumers' needs? Once you figure out what they need, find a way to use your social media accounts to promote how to satisfy those needs with your company.

"Create a Content Bank"

In case you don't know, a "content bank", in this instance, refers to a bunch of different types of information that you can use at your convenience for posting to social media (qtd. in Morrison). Think of it as a piggy bank for all of the information related to your company that you can use for your social media campaign. Creating one will help you in the future if you ever get stuck on coming up with something to post about. A good place for this would be Pinterest, where you can pin all of the relevant things that you find for your company to a board for future use.

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"Engage and Build Relationships"

FYI, this is not referring to a "ring by spring", people. This is about drawing in your consumers with your social media. Like I said before, social media is all about personal connections. Create that connection with your consumers and keep them coming back.

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"Maintain a Consistent Content Publishing Cycle"

No matter what, KEEP POSTING. Do not create social media accounts and then just leave them there to rot. If you do that, you're business will soon follow, and it'll kind of be like The Walking Dead, where one person becomes a zombie, and then the next person and the person after that until everyone's just a Walking Nightmare. Do NOT let your business fall like zombie dominoes. KEEP POSTING on a regular basis!

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"Invest on Getting More Social Followers; Share Expert's Content"

Gaining followers should be a priority. The whole point of using social media for marketing purposes is to gain more awareness, right? How can you do that for your company if no one is following you? Spend a good amount of time and resources to get people connected to your social media. Also, be sure that if you're trying to prove something with your posts, back it up with some sort of credibility so that you can show that you know what you're talking about.

"Automate Social Sharing with Tools Like Buffer and Hootsuite"

Buffer and Hootsuite are companies that help you keep tabs on all of your social media accounts. Using sites like these will help you keep track of what your posting and to where. For big companies, especially, this would be super helpful to invest in.

"Evaluate Your Results and Improve Your Strategy"

After going through all of that hullabaloo, back up and see how well you're implementing your social media campaign. How can you gain more followers? What are you missing? Where are you weak and where are you strong with your social media? Using numerical data will help you with this step, especially when it comes to the amount of followers that you've gained or lost.

The great thing about Morrison's post is that she briefly explains the infographic and then gives you its original source if you want more detail about it. The infographic has great stats and resources that you can use to help implement your social media campaign. Go check it out!

Spotlight

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Most Americans know of the major television conglomerate that is NBC (National Broadcasting Company). If you follow any of their TV shows on social media, or NBC themselves, you know that they have a very personal connection with their followers. For example, while NBC's show Parenthood was premiering their last season on television, I was following their account on Twitter. If I tweeted about something happening in an episode while it was premiering, I had a good chance of my Tweet getting liked, retweeted, or commented on by the NBC Parenthood account. A few times, this did happen to me, and, at one point, their account even followed me!

Besides just have a personal connection with their followers, such as myself, they also are continuing to grow in their social media reach. For the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, NBC wanted to expand its viewers to youth via social media. They used Logan Paul, a popular Vine user, to provide insights on the Games on NBC's Snapchat account. NBC also extended their social media reach to other places, such as BuzzFeed. To read more about how NBC awesomely implemented this campaign, read this article on Mediakix. A long-time successful company, such as NBC, is a great place to look to for social media inspiration. Enjoy reaching your #socialmediagoals!

Pictures found through Google Images. I do not own these pictures, nor The Walking Dead, NBC, Dora the Explorer, and social media companies mentioned or shown (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) trademarks and quotes. This is being used for educational purposes.