Understanding Marketing Volume III: Social Media Marketing

Posted by Stanley Malyszka, Marketing Manager, fi360, Inc. on July 09, 2015

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Marketing via social media has exploded in recent years due to the growth in popularity of networks such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.  The lure of social media is that it is a direct way to communicate with customers and potential customers that you may have otherwise been unable to reach.  I like to look at social media marketing as 2 distinct channels- 1) Your basic social media account and 2) Paid social media ads.  Let’s start with your basic social media account.

Before setting up a basic social media account, make sure you have a good idea of what social media networks your customers are most likely to be on (Golden Rule #1).  There is an exorbitant amount of social media networks out there and you will drive yourself crazy and waste a ton of time trying to be on every single one.  I would recommend focusing on just a few to start (Golden Rule #3) and then expanding from there if you deem it necessary and worth your time (What’s the ROI?).  So how do you reach your customers and grow your network?  Content.  Content.  Content.  The more relevant the content that you post is to your target customer then the more likely it is to reach them.  DO NOT, however, post just to post nor post only solicitations.  The number of customers you reach is correlated to the relevance and quality of the content you post not the quantity.  Below are a few basic principles to follow:

1. Follow the 25% Rule
   1. 25% of your total posts can be ads for your product or services i.e. for every 4 posts, 1 can be promotional.
2. Post relevant quality content
   1. If you have content readily available then post it on a consistent basis (blogs, whitepapers, podcasts, etc.).
   2. If you do not have content readily available, then find relevant articles or other social media posts online that your customers might be interested in and post on your feed.
3. Utilize #Hashtags properly
   1. #Hashtags are utilized across multiple social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram.  They allow you to reach customers interested in specific topics like #401k or #RetirementPlan.
   2. Do not go #Hashtag crazy (Golden Rule #3)!  Using more #Hashtags does not correlate to reaching more people.  Studies have shown the optimal number of #Hashtags to have in a Twitter post is 1-2.  Check out this great blog The Scientific Guide to Hashtags by Kevan Lee.
4. Separate personal from business
   1. You should have separate social media accounts for your business.
   2. Stay away from posting personal beliefs and opinions on your business accounts.  You never know what might offend whom.
5. Don’t engage “Trolls”
   1. “Trolls” are people who scour social media networks looking to stir up controversy and conflict.  Your best to just ignore and avoid.
   2. If a customer has an issue and contacts you via social media, you’re best option is to engage them offline or through private messaging rather than in a public forum.
6. If you have to think twice about clicking Post, then you probably shouldn’t Post.

The second part of social media marketing is paid advertisements.  Most social media networks have a paid ad channel that you can take advantage of.  Paid ads through social media are an extremely targeted, time-efficient, and cost-effective way to reach your target customers.  You pick who you want to target, how much you want to pay, and then set and forget (you really shouldn’t forget, however, and should change ads regularly).  Let’s dive a little deeper into Cost, Targeting and Time. 

1. Cost
   1. If you’re on a tight budget and can only afford $5/day then you can set your daily limit to $5 and your ads will stop showing once you hit that limit.  Is $5/day enough?  It really depends on your goal and the effectiveness of your ad.  A recent example of marketing executed on Twitter- $5 got 1,616 impressions (views) and 15 clicks.  Most networks will give a few options for marketing campaigns.  You can create a campaign to drive clicks to your website, you can create a campaign to increase followers, you can create a campaign to increase awareness, and so on and so on.  Cost will usually be based on either the amount of impressions (views) your ad receives ($X for every 1,000) or the amount of clicks your ad receives ($X for every 1). 
2. Targeting
   1. When it comes to targeting, you can target customers based on gender, age, geography, interests, behaviors, keywords, and more.  If you want to target investors, Facebook has an option to target people who are “Highly likely investors.”  If you want to target people with 401(k) plans, Twitter has an option to target people who may own mutual funds.  You can get extremely targeted which will help you reach your targeted customers and increase your ROI.
3. Time
   1. Most networks will allow you to set a duration for each campaign.  If you only want to run your ad for a week, then you can set an expiration date for 7 days and your ad will automatically shut off.  If you want your ad to run continuously, then you can set it to run until you shut it off.  The beauty of this feature is that, when used in conjunction with the Daily Budget feature, your campaign becomes truly automated and you don’t have to worry about spending tons of time day in and day out adjusting.  You should, however, test different ads and change on a regular basis to keep it fresh.

With nearly 2 billion people worldwide on social media networks (that’s about 1 in 4 people), social media marketing has become an ideal way to reach target customers without spending excess amounts of time and money.  And, you don’t need to be a marketing guru or a professional graphic designer to take advantage of it.  So, in short, to answer the question “Should I be on social media,” Yes you should be.

In the next installment of the Understanding Marketing series, we will explore Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.  So be sure to keep an eye out!