blog / By Jeff Harrison
Summary: Today’s marketing strategy uses social media as a strategic communication tool to win your ideal customers. It creates an understanding of values and breaks your audience’s resistance to buying from you. This article shows you how to plan it all out!
Social media is an influential communication tool in today’s business space. The platforms are not only used for social networking but as a means to digitally promote your brand and products to break customers’ buying resistance.
It helps increase brand awareness, drive organic traffic to your website, and convert with ease no matter your type of business. Probably, the missing puzzle in getting positive results in engaging your ideal customers this whole time is strategic communication!
However, it’s vital to understand the operating concepts of this discussion to drive home the point.
What is Marketing Strategy?
A marketing strategy refers to your overall business’ plan to reach out to your ideal consumers and convert them into loyal customers. You should note the keyword in the definition – reach out. And it simply means – to communicate!
When using social media as a marketing strategy, you are keying into strategic communication with your ideal customer. This process allows you to harness the influencing power of the majority for your brand.
What is social media?
The term refers to modern communication technology used to create and share relevant ideas, interests, and values in a network of like minds.
Social media facilitates quick and viral sharing of information and other forms of expression with a level of emotions. The objective is to create close interactions among like minds.
It allows the sharing of values between your brand and prospective customers and achieving your goals in an atmosphere of mutual respect using different media – text, video, voice, graphics, etc., and reacts accordingly.
Types of Social Media Channels, Purpose with Platforms
- Social networking sites. The purpose includes Audience Engagement, Networking, and Research. Platforms are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
- Social review sites. Purpose includes Understanding customer perspectives and Solving problems. Platforms are Yelp and TripAdvisor.
- Image sharing sites. Purpose includes User-generated content and Inspiration. Platforms are Instagram, Imgur, and Snapchat.
- Video hosting sites. The purpose includes Sharing viral content and Audience engagement. Platforms are YouTube and Vimeo.
- Community blogs. The purpose includes Developing your voice and Content syndication. Platforms are Medium and Tumblr.
- Discussion sites. The purpose includes Research and Answering questions. Platforms are Reddit and Quora.
- Sharing economy networks. Purpose includes Bring Ideal customers together. Platforms are AirBnB and Rover.
The Goal of Social Media as a Marketing Strategy for Your Brand
People value group interaction. Man craves a connection with fellow man. This is why Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid has Love and Belongingness in the middle.
The worst that can happen to a man is to deprive him of this need. Therefore, social marketing brings the following benefits to your brand.
- Healthy relationships. Social media as a marketing strategy connects your brand to its ideal customer. And by extension, it reaches out even more to your customer’s friend’s friends.
- Share your expertise. Social media gives you a voice no other marketing medium can dream of giving you – the opportunity to let your ideal customer know you how you want to be known. It gives you the avenue to share your expertise with your connections.
- Increase your visibility. You hone your expertise and greatly increase your trust and visibility as a thought-leader in your industry by consistently managing your channels.
- Educate yourself. With so much noise in cyberspace, social media allows you to sift through, learn things you need, and connect with people you want.
- Connect anytime. While traditional marketing creates a feedback communication gap, social media allows you to instantly communicate and connect with anyone to know what your customers want.
Let’s now discuss why we are here…
How to use Social Media for Strategic Marketing Communication
In marketing, communicating with your target audience aims to break their buying resistance and convert them to achieve your goal.
But to succeed, you got to know how to communicate the right way – it is called strategic communication. Thus the phrase, “What you say is just as important as how you say it” is relevant in strategic communication.
You need the following six steps for an effective social media marketing strategy.
- Identify the goal
Any marketing venture needs a clearly defined goal. Your goal is your guide on what social channels and platforms to use to convert your audience.
- Understand your audience
Who is your ideal customer? You can’t venture into strategic marketing until you answer this question without ambiguity. Understanding your audience lets you know what right words, channels, and platforms to use.
- Communicate the value
For two people to agree, their values must meet. Without a connection, there can’t be a relationship! Understand your brand and your audience values to communicate effectively.
- Express the need
Remember, a brand and its ideal customers have what they need from interacting on social media. You can’t put your needs on the table without considering your audience’s needs. Thus, it is your job to determine your audience’s needs and present them for mutual benefit.
- Create stories and time-sensitive posts
Social media interaction is about creating engaging posts that appeal to your audience’s sentiments. You should key into their frame of mind in a relaxing and friendly manner! Thus, learning to inject storytelling into your audience engagement promotes strategic communication and evokes nice emotions.
- Get someone to take responsibility
Your social media marketing strategy needs a dedicated manager. Many brands’ mistake is treating their social media as a project without consequence! Somebody must align your social activities with your brand’s goal.
Steps to Building a Rewarding Social Media Marketing Strategy
The social media landscape can be scary and confusing. Social media marketing strategy isn’t just social presence; it is a conscious brand marketing communication project to win your ideal customer over to your side.
Building a social media team and posting content randomly is not enough. Every post must align with your brand’s goal, corporate value, and mission. It must be targeted at solving your prospect’s problems in unique, clearly communicated messages.
Here are the steps to creating a successful social media marketing strategy
Step #1: Goal setting. Identify where you are now and want to be after an SM campaign.
Step #2: Customer need. Identify and understand what your ideal customer wants.
Step #3: Channels and platforms. Determine the channels and platforms to reach your ideal customers.
Step #4: Create a success image. Clearly define what success from your SM campaign looks like.
Step #5: Content creation. Create relevant content to achieve your projected success.
Step #6: Develop your KPI. Determine how to measure success – Reach, Clicks, Engagement, and Shares.
Is Your Brand Ready for Social Media Marketing Strategy?
As a strategic project, social media marketing strategy isn’t everyday business communication. It needs someone to take charge.
If you are new to social media marketing and want to use social media as a marketing strategy to grow and expand your business sustainably but are not sure what the best foot forward is, SwingPointMedia is here to help.
You can trust SwingPointMedia to fire up your social media marketing and help your brand expand with the best ROI.
Call 760-422-5176 now to discuss your social media marketing strategy.
You are invited to also attend a free weekly presentation, providing you the tools and strategy to roll out your own content marketing program for your company or see exactly what SwingPointMedia does for its clients to achieve success. It can be viewed live on SwingPointMedia’s YouTube channel Wednesdays at 11 am pst.
