Welcome back to another week of my marketing blog. Last week we looked at blogging, this week we are focusing on how to stay relevant on social media. Social media is probably the platform we all engage with the most when it comes to marketing. Gone are the days when people read the classified ads in the local newspaper to learn about local businesses.

So where do you start in setting up social businesses, so first we need to understand the platforms and know their pro’s & con’s. So let’s dive into those:

• Facebook – Perfect platform for customer engagement. Can be used for sales, advertising events & conversation with customers. Downfall is that it is phasing out of popularity. Perfect for a local cafe business, not suitable for a local lawyer as they need to stay professional.
• Instagram – Great platform for image showing. Though not so engaging if text based is the solution. Great for businesses selling cakes but not great if a business is selling accounting solutions.
• Twitter – This is a text based platform. It is perfect for information sharing, businesses such as IT companies can share a wide range here, but not as good for a makeup brand.
• LinkedIn – This platform is focused on B2B. The consumer is in the corporate world. Not great for a residential cleaner but perfect for a design company.
• Tiktok – Tiktok is a video based platform with a very young demographic with most users under 25 years old. Would be perfect for a cosmetic company but not useful for an insurance company.
• Snapchat – This is typically a friend to friend platform. It has a business option, but is not big yet. It is great for sponsored ads and reels. Main demographic is 18-20, so brands such as fashion would benefit from this platform. A pension company would not find any use from this page.
• Youtube – Youtube has made a huge resurgence with many businesses taking advantage of video marketing. It is great for businesses wanting to feed customers information. So it is perfect for a beauty product but not as great for a restaurant. 
• Pinterest – This is a visual platform used for making mood boards. Perfect for a wedding florist but not as relevant for a dog walking business.

It is worth bearing in mind there are lots of small social media platforms not mentioned and new ones are popping up regularly. So keep an eye on what is going on out there as that will be how to stay relevant on social media. Now we know the platforms, it is time to create a campaign.

A social media campaign is a document created to bring information about a product, brand & service which uses one of many social media platforms. The campaign focuses on certain elements such as measurable outcome and to influence the followers to reach with the content.

When creating a social media campaign you should create a working document which should look at:

• Research your competitors
• Create your strategy
• Appeal to your target audience
• Choose your content type and format
• Manage your campaign results
• Create ads for your content
• Promote one message throughout your campaign
• Balance your promotional and non-promotional content
• Ensure your content is unique to your business
• Engage with your audience regularly
• Create a unique hashtag for your campaign
• Automate your content with scheduling software
• Use live stream to your advantage

Once the above has been achieved you will need to look at how to engage with and then grow your audience. This can be done in a number of ways;

1. Targeted ads to suitable customers with intent to gain followers
2. Run a competition where current followers like, share and tag friends in order to gain more followers.
3. Gift or pay an influencer to sell your product on their own social media pages
4. Encourage customers visiting your website or physical shop to follow you on social media

It is always worth looking at extra ways of growing your followings which in turn should mean more followers, customers or sales. In your marketing strategy it should state your 3 types of online marketing; paid, earned & owned.

Once this has been decided you can look at a budget to enhance your social media this could be done via ad’s & campaigns on your chosen social media platform.

Now you have had a look at how to stay relevant on social media and how to decide what is best for you. Next time we will be looking at the benefits of email marketing. Thanks for continuing to follow along this journey. As you seem to be enjoying the blogs I am sharing, please head to my social media pages (see icons below) to like, share and tag your friends.