Guides

Social Media A-Z

Are you overwhelmed by the thought of adding social media to your marketing efforts? Billions of people around the globe use social media on a daily basis. This should definitely motivate you to learn how to use it to your advantage! It’s not as difficult as you might think. Our guide to social media provides step-by-step instructions on choosing platforms, setting up accounts, using hashtags, setting goals, and much more.

Excerpt From the Guide

“Using social media for your business without setting goals would be like opening a business without a business plan in place.

1. Make Your Goals Realistic and Measurable: For example, if your objective is lead generation and you currently get 5 leads a month, setting a goal to get 3,000 new leads in the next 12 months is not realistic. But setting a goal to improve CTR (click-through rates) on Facebook calls to action by 10% by the end of the year may work for you.

Here are some typical social media objectives for small businesses:

  • Attract new business
  • Engage with your target audience
  • Create brand recognition
  • Provide an outlet for customer support

Setting specific goals and objectives will help to guide your social media efforts and give you markers to track when analyzing your results.

2. Determine WHY You Chose the Goals You Did: It is important for everyone involved in managing your social media to understand WHY they are being asked to do so. You have figured out what you want to accomplish, but it's just as important to understand why you want to accomplish it. For example:

  • We want to increase the number of customers who buy from us using our website. WHY?
  • Because it will help us increase sales – WHY?
  • Because our reach and retention have been the same, so if we increase the number of people converting, we will generate more business - WHY?
  • Because we want our business to grow.

This may seem like a very obvious train of thought, but it is important to clarify exactly what your expectations are so that everyone can be on the same page.”