In this age of social media, there are literally countless ways to make your business well known, but it takes skill to know where and how to focus your energy, as well as when to slow down entirely. Not all websites are a productive use of your time and/or money.
Before you begin any marketing campaign, even an online one, make sure you create a blueprint for long-term success. It’s good to have a plan in place for how to proceed, even if that plan changes organically over time. It’s also true that less is more when it comes to online promotion. You should know when to publish and when to scale back to avoid oversaturating your audience with over-promotion. Today’s consumers will blatantly avoid ads they find too intrusive or annoying, with some people rejecting an entire website or brand entirely. This phenomenon is known as consumer abandonment and it’s a very real issue in today’s digital marketplace.
Once you have established a plan, it’s important to appoint yourself a good team. While it may be true that millennials have grown up around technology, in certain cases, there’s just no substitute for experience. Social media is just another marketing tool for a concept that has been around for eons, so being born in the tech age shouldn’t instantly qualify someone to head up your marketing campaign. That being said, for some companies it might be a better fit to have someone young on their team. The decision should be based on a number of factors such as your company culture, who your audience will be and what you’ll be selling. The key is to find the right fit for your specific business.
Choosing the right social media platform(s) is another important decision because there are so many to choose from but not every demographic will use every website. By looking at statistics like monthly active users (MAU), the top social media platforms include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, however, that doesn’t mean that every option will be a good fit for your business. It’s also important to factor in how much time you want to dedicate to the maintenance of each additional social media profile since every added site will require more time and/or monetary commitments. The only thing worse than a nonexistent social media presence is a horribly-maintained one.
In addition to posting timely articles and user-friendly advertising, it’s a good idea to interact with your customers – make it a two-way street. People love and require feedback in today’s marketplace and the more human your company seems, the more people will be able to relate to it and form brand-positive awareness.