Marketers harness the power of social media to gain visibility for their brands and grow their following. But like all other marketing strategies, social media must be done right in order to achieve measurable and lasting results.
Understanding (and following) the laws of social media marketing makes it easy to meet the objectives of your business.
More importantly, it provides a direct channel of communication with your audience, which gives you invaluable feedback to support all of your marketing efforts.
Law #1: Provide Value First
This law is broken by many of today’s businesses. They decide to use social media to market their products and services, but then make the mistake of only talking about those products and services.
Social media users don’t want to be sold. They want to be informed, entertained, and even inspired. If the majority of your social media activity doesn’t provide value, your audience will quickly move on.
Law #2: Know Your Audience
The value you provide through social media only happens once you’ve taken the time to get to know your audience. Social media lets you position your brand’s message in front of those users whose needs your products and services can satisfy.
Social media is a powerful listening tool as well as a broadcasting one. Successful social media marketers take the time to listen to their audiences.
By providing the information and resources your audience needs, you build loyalty around your brand and position your business as an authority in your industry.
Law #3: Be Responsive
Businesses that break the first two laws of social media inevitably overlook the third. Your willingness to respond to your followers in a timely manner is at the core of your social media success.
Current and future customers can reach out to you directly through various social media platforms. This gives you a valuable opportunity to build relationships with those users who are most likely to purchase your products and services.
Ignoring your audience sends a message that says their needs are less important to your business than your own. Being responsive puts them first and builds trust.
Law #4: Be Consistent
Consistency is the key to a successful social media campaign. Consistency applies to the frequency with which you post as well as the experience users have with your brand.
Having a consistent brand voice and message makes your business more familiar and easily identified. It gives your audience an idea of what kind of content they can expect in the future.
Your social media activity should be consistent over time. Find a posting frequency that works for your business and stick to it. This lets users know when to expect updates and prevents them from going elsewhere should you temporarily disappear.
Law #5: Be Focused
Social media campaigns must have a clearly defined focus. It’s up to you and your marketing team to decide on your message. This focus comes from knowing your audience and creating a consistent experience.
But more importantly, it’s based on your goals in relation to your social media activity. Decide what your objectives are and whom you want to serve. Instead of trying to appeal to all audiences, you’ll be more successful when you speak to the right audience.
This builds loyalty around your business brand, which strengthens the relationships you build through social media.
These 5 laws of social media marketing must be followed in order to achieve long-term success. Understanding the needs of your audience and providing value lay the foundation for effective marketing strategies.
Creating a focused and consistent social media campaign helps you achieve that while generating more visibility for your business.
