Every day we read countless blogs, which give us each a different view on online marketing and social media. This is a habit that I advise everyone, because we will always learn new things and teach us the way to go. In this sense, there was a post in Social Media Today that caught my attention, more for the title than for the rest of the article.
The headline read: “Social Media Marketing: Going Out Now … You’re Doomed to Fail”, this so-called deterrent of trying to introduce us to this marketing strategy caught my attention especially, and logically I started to read the article. Really, inside was said quite the opposite, it was about how to succeed in social media marketing.
Indeed, the title and what I could read in the article made me think of the many cases of companies that we see every day start in this world of social media. I think they are not aware, that by participating in online marketing actions, companies that until that moment nobody knew suddenly become visible on the map, with all the good and bad that this supposes.
The biggest problem we encountered in small SMEs, is that lack of both human and economic resources, embark on the adventure of social networks without any strategy or planning. For this very reason, I find the title of the post the most appropriate and timely, if a company is not prepared for marketing actions, under the conditions that must be done, it is better to “ leave now … are doomed to failure ” But this does not mean that we leave it, but we must prepare the strategy well and start developing our marketing plan.
What am I doing wrong in online marketing?
If we do not start well, after a while this will be the question that many companies do, this will be because if they do not follow the right steps they will make some mistake in social media and they will be doomed to failure. In order not to have to ask ourselves this fateful question, we have to follow a series of steps to avoid as much as possible to make mistakes that carry the whole of our marketing strategy in social media.
I do not want to discourage any company, but we can not blindly launch social networks. Also, bear in mind that actions in online marketing, in principle are not costly which encourages companies to participate, and do so quickly. But as I said before you have to follow a few steps to do things well, specifically six, and the first is to establish the objectives of our participation, which must be measurable. This measurement will show us the effectiveness of our actions.
- Therefore, the first step is to set our goals .
- The second step is to analyze the budget that we devote to this section, as well as time and human resources that we have. Bearing in mind, once actions are launched they must be maintained over time, and even reinforced.
- A third step of course, is to analyze the behavior of our private competition both in developing marketing campaigns, as their participation in social networks. This will serve to be better prepared and plan the actions and target audience segmentation.
- As a fourth step , we should ask a SWOT analysis of our company, in line with the overall objectives set. It is not necessary to participate in all social networks, and precisely all the steps taken so far will indicate in what ways our company should direct its actions, since it is better to have a strong presence in those networks in which the company has its target audience, Which does not have an insufficient presence in all social networks. Question of optimization of resources.
- The fifth step , and most important, is the development of online marketing plan . With all the data collected and analyzed, we will develop the plan, in which we will define the strategies necessary for the achievement of the objectives. The actions will have different strategies: inbound marketing , plan content marketing and development of marketing campaigns that are specifically adapted to social media, as they must be designed especially for them.
- Finally, the sixth step left is the measurement . We must measure all the results of our actions for a number of reasons, but the key is to detect deviations from the planning, and to initiate corrective measures if necessary. The measurement will allow us to know what goals have been fulfilled, and therefore it is necessary to walk again through the same steps, but establishing new objectives and maintaining those that are necessary.
All this process will allow companies to follow a protocol of action in social media that will minimize the risks of making mistakes, although we will never be safe from them, but we will be prepared to solve them. It is very important to have qualified personnel in the company to develop and execute an online marketing plan, and if the company does not have that professional profile my advice is to seek the advice of specialized companies for this purpose.
All those who read the title of this article thinking that I was going to tell them what they were doing wrong in their actions, will have surprised because it was not so, since my intention was the opposite, tell them how to act not to be done the fateful question: what am I doing wrong?
Do you think companies are doing well? What other advice would you give? I await your comments.
