The 6 golden rules of social media marketing

Make your social media work for you with these golden rules of social media from Liz Symth, Area Vice President Marketing at marketing software specialists, Marketo.

Your business needs and wants as much exposure as possible on all of the social channels you can effectively manage. Sound time consuming? That depends. Leads must be nurtured in one way or another. And up to 95% of qualified prospects on your website are there to research and are not yet ready to engage with sales, never mind buy. Some golden rules of social media could help you go a long way.

A recent Nielsen Survey showed that only 33% of buyers believe what a brand has to say about itself because people view any brand-to-buyer communication as an advertisement. Leveraging the power of peer-to-peer communication delivers significant benefits including no cost or low cost brand lift, increased brand authenticity, and it gives sales and marketing access to new opportunities. To maximise successful social peer-to-peer marketing you have to do more than social media. You have to do social marketing. Done well, social marketing can amplify impact and drive buyer engagement, new business, and revenue creation.

Below are six golden rules of social media to help keep your social marketing campaigns on track.

Don’t take yourself too seriously

It should be obvious but social media is about being social, and that means you need a good personality to make your brand likeable.

Inbound is not enough

For a business to benefit fully from social media marketing tactics, they should be combined with outbound marketing. Never underestimate what a bit of paid promotion can do for your business.

You must have good content and solid offers

Without well-produced, engaging content, any and all tactics you employ will most likely fail.

You will need a strong call to action

The tried-and-true, strong call to action is just as important in social media as it is anywhere else. Be clear about what you want your audience to do after consuming your content or engaging with your brand.

Always add value

At the end of the day, if you are not providing some sort of value to your prospects and customers, you are not doing your job and social media will never work for you. Here is an easy test: put yourself in your prospects’ shoes and ask if you find what you are offering of any value – from their perspective. If not, kill it and start over.

Never forget that social is a two-way street

No one likes being talked at. Yes, broadcast your message, but remember to keep the lines of communication open in both directions. When contacted, always respond quickly and sincerely. Be sure to mix up your messaging and use a combination of content and offers.

In summary, be interesting, helpful, and on occasion, be funny. Regardless of the social stream of choice, you must create content that people want to interact with (by sharing, liking, or commenting on) and you must create it consistently and frequently.

Liz Symth is Area Vice President Marketing at marketing software specialists, Marketo. She can be contacted at lizs@marketo.com