Social Media Marketing StrategyIn a previous article we discussed why a blog should be part of your strategic marketing plan. While consistent content creation is important to getting found in search engines, equally important is to promote your remarkable content on social media and allow followers of your brand to share it with their own social networks.

Nowadays most marketers are not struggling to understand why social media is important; instead, all are challenged by how to manage a social media marketing program in a scalable way.

Using social media to converse with customers is one of the best ways (if not the best way) to strengthen the rapport you have. That way people will actually want to hear your campaign message and think of you first when they are ready to buy what you have to offer.

But how do you make the biggest impact with what limited time you can invest? Some questions to ask yourself include:

  • How do I save time posting all of these messages across all my social channels?
  • How do I know which of my potential or existing customers are actually interacting with my Facebook posts?
  • Is my social community (subscribers, followers, fans, connections) growing steadily over time?
  • Which of my contacts are most engaged with my brand?
  • How do I use what information I know about my contacts based on their social media activity to market to them in a more targeted, personalized fashion?

These are all questions that the right social media management tool can help you answer so you can save time with all the minutia associated with getting a campaign message out there, and instead focus on getting your message right.

How to Integrate Social Media into your Marketing Strategy

Using social media channels in your marketing campaign is all about creating a connection with your customers through likeable content, reciprocity, responsiveness and transparency. Here’s an example:

When Taco Bell recently launched their new, fan-requested Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos, they did a great job supplementing their initial announcement with bite-sized, sharable pieces of content to get fans excited about hopping in the drive-thru at their local store as soon as the arrival date rolled around.

Taco Bell’s Facebook page cover photo informed page visitors that the Cool Ranch “DLTs” were coming. Visitors found a series of status updates with photos informing fans of exclusive events where they could try the new DLTs before anyone else – provided they knew the password that Taco Bell only shared on Facebook.

Taco Bell Facebook marketing campaign

On Twitter, fans knew they could tune into the conversation using the hashtag #CoolRanchDLT because it was mentioned in other pieces of shared content, like the videos of pre-planned speakeasy taco tastings posted to YouTube.

Taco Bell Twitter marketing campaign

Every piece of multimedia shared through these different social media channels worked both separately and collectively to give the customer a reason to connect with Taco Bell, extending the total reach of the DLT launch campaign.

Taco Bell YouTube marketing campaign

Use Social Intelligence to Improve Campaign Messaging

Remember, social media marketing is just one piece of a successful marketing strategy. As the renowned marketing thought leader, Jay Baer often says, “The goal isn’t to be good at social media; the goal is to be good at business because of social media.”

So, how to you keep up with keeping all your social channels up to date? After all, it takes time to jump from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn and YouTube, not to mention any of the countless other social media outlets where you may be posting and need to monitor.

There are plenty of social media management platforms that can provide greater insight and save time. Some are real-time, highly customized dashboards that enable you to manage multiple accounts, use shared workspaces, and respond on multiple social networks with one click. Others are simple, effective, and lightweight, and provide the right amount of functionality.

The best social media management software you select should help streamline your publishing process and manage your social contacts by helping you identify social influencers or prospects. This will help personalize your lead nurturing and improve your business communication.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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