How Social Are You?
posted by on Friday, March 20, 2015
If you're online, more than likely you're using social media. According to Pew Research Center, 74 percent of online adults are on a social media site, typically Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter, in that order. And if your practice doesn't already have a presence on one or more of these sites, let's get started. Social media is another tool that should definitely be in your marketing mix to reach out to potential and current patients. In this article on BlogHer, Isabel Hernandez offers seven best practices that any organization can use to improve their social media strategy.
Social media marketing can be challenging if you are new to the game, and perhaps don’t have the means to retain the services of an in-house specialist. The mere actions of posting ads on Facebook or Twitter isn’t all it takes to attract and retain followers. To fully tap into the boundless potential of social media requires putting in a lot of time and effort. While also accruing in-depth knowledge of the various platforms you use.
To assist you in your quest in realizing your social media marketing projections, the following are 7 best practices you may want to integrate.
1. Make use of relevant analytics
Always focus on accessing the necessary insights on your efforts. Not just from your followers, but also users that mention or tag your firm in their posts. An intuitive social media based analytics application can be able to facilitate for this. Especially when it comes to gathering vital data like who mentions your firm and how many followers they may have. Or even user that have made purchases from your business who may appreciate an incentive to make repeat purchases.
2. Dwell on loyal followers
Don’t just spend all your time and efforts in trying to make your business go viral in social media networks. Instead focus on acquiring a manageable number of loyal followers who will be worth their weight in gold so to speak. The rule of thumb of doing this is equating your social media relationships to actual real-life ones which require plenty of cultivation to thrive. Services like Instagram auto like could give you sudden boosts, but at the end of the day, organic followers are all that stick. Always remember that while these platforms do provide fantastic ROIs, it doesn’t happen overnight. For your business to be one of the winners you must put in small durations for the long haul rather than attempting a single gigantic marketing campaign.
3. Put in place a content schedule
To avoid the agonies of trying to figure out just what to post each day, you should establish a systematic content schedule. Ideally, you should have a theme for each day, which will permit you to do timely background research before you post. You should also exploit holidays like Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day and so on or even special days in your given niche.
4. Be highly interactive
Introduce fun-filled and interesting activities into your social media content. You could set up competitions, quizzes or even polls that your followers can participate in and the winners receive a prize. Or you can have live Q&A sessions where your followers can get to learn more about your firm. Social media is still developing, which presents plenty of space to be creative and experiment with your content. Engaging with your audience will result in long term followers, period.
5. React rapidly to issues raised by users
The mere fact that your clients resort to post complaints on your profile means that they are giving you the benefit of doubt. You should respond rapidly to all complaints or feedback you get from your followers. Doing this solidifies your firm’s image as one that reacts positively to feedback and criticism.
6. Personalize your social media accounts
Personalizing all your social media profiles and posting personalized content to individual followers makes your business more appealing. You should also flesh out your profiles as being original is crucial in any marketing campaign. People want to interact with other people and not soulless entities, which builds trust and enhances brand awareness.
7. Reuse successful content
Finally, you should form the habit of reusing content that was received enthusiastically by your followers, and integrating the feedback of other users. This makes it infinitely convenient to manage your firm’s social media strategy.
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