I have a friend that is about to launch an online store, specialising in sporting gear. She asked me for some advice regarding social media marketing strategies, so today I’m going to summarise my advice to her for everyone to see.
Okay, so social media marketing is an element of digital marketing and is closely related to the term Viral Marketing. The two have a close relationship, Social Media Marketing involves communication and viral marketing involves using the network of effect of the internet to reach people rapidly, in a similarly way that a computer virus would (Chaffey, PP. 529).
When creating a social media marketing strategy, my advice was to consider the POST framework (below). Summarised by Forrester (2007), the POST Framework is a useful tool for assisting businesses to develop a social media marketing strategy (Chaffey, PP. 529).
Additional to using the post framework, my advice to her involved a prior step, which is that the strategy should be informed by demand. What do your customers want, desire or need?
Understanding this could direct which social media platform to connect with.
One thing I did recommend to her was, ‘don’t just pick the most popular platforms of social media (i.e. Facebook and Twitter). Sure, these platforms may be useful for her store, however if she is selling sporting gear.
I recommended she use sport related platforms. Fitness platforms, or applications like Strava would be a great platform for advertisements and communicating to a direct sporting focussed audience.
Once you have found your social media platforms and developed your strategy, he next stage is ‘execution’, which essentially comes down to tactics. Below are a few tactics identified by Barnhart (2018), that I also recommended to my friend, and now recommend to you.
Master the Art of Social Storytelling: People are sick of spam, and this is why storytelling content is all-the-rage. Story based posts can be seen driving discussion and not just clicks (Barnhart, 2018)
Experiment with Ads: Try different things, review how people respond and continually progress your ads. Utilise the ones that work well, however be ready to always try things like carousel ads.
Go Live: We know that videos are effective, but going live steps it up. Live videos give off a ‘must see’ feeling for potential viewers.
Build your Army of Advocates: The need to stand out is so important. Brand advocates such as employees and customers can help you do this (Barnhart, 2018). Use advocates to help you!
So, there it is, some short and simple tips to get you started with Social Media Marketing.
Best of Luck!
Kris.
References
Barnhart, B. 15 February 2018. 9 Smart Social Media Tactics to Dominate 2018. Viewed 23 September 2018,
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-tactics/
Brelsford, B. 24 September 2012. Evaluating your social strategy with Forrester’s POST. Viewed 23 September 2018,
Chaffey,D. Ellis-Chadwick, F. Digital Marketing strategy, implementation and practice. 6th ed, Pearson 2016, pp. 528 – 534
Facebook. 2018. Viewed 23 September 2018, https://www.facebook.com
Graziani, T. 20 October 2014. Walkthechat event about wechat viral marketing. Viewed 23 September 2018,
Larson, E. 17 June 2013. 8 Social Networks for fitness freaks. Viewed 23 September 2018,
Microsoft. 2018. Twitter. Viewed 23 September 2018,
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