If you have a business or you are responsible the business’ marketing strategy, the question of Social media and how much time to devote to it, is probably an annoying one that wont go away.
Although I do truly believe that each business is different and therefore, every target audience is different. I want to make it clear that every business can have a home and success on social media. It is extremely rare, that you meet someone in a business setting, who doesn’t have at least one of the following accounts personally; LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and because of this, your target market will be on a social platform.
Now with that being said, the effort to find this audience and establish your self within the this community, may be more effort than it’s worth.
Look at your marketing strategy
A lot of businesses do not have Marketing strategies and I think this is where the problem begins. Without a strategy you have no way to work out where you are currently and where you want to be. No goals, or KPI’s to work towards or within.
When you assess your social media strategy, think about what you want to achieve with it. Are you wanting to gain new business as a direct consequence or are you wanting brand awareness and site traction. These different strategies will call for different types of content and therefor, more or less resources will go in to them accordingly.
What are your competitors doing?
Look at what businesses are doing at a similar size to you, then compare that to the industry leader.
The industry leaders stereotypically will be the standard that you are wanting to reach so understanding how they are targeting your potential clients is often crucial.
Speak to your existing Clients
Your current clients are often the best resource when completing a social and a marketing strategy. At the end of the day they are the perfect mould for new clients and potential leads.
How do they interact with social media, what platforms are they on. Do they engage with businesses in your industry on social, if not Why not? What would they want to see, what don’t they want to see? These are all questions that would build the perfect guide.
Putting together the Social Strategy
Once you have answers to the above, you can then understand the resource necessary to action your social strategy and presence. Only then can you make the call on whether it is financially beneficial to integrate social media.
