Social Media Marketing Strategies

Social Media Marketing: A Complete Guide for Marketers

Social media marketing – strategies backed by science.

If you’re wondering how social media marketing affects you, read on.

In 2011, four million fewer viewers watched the Academy Awards than the previous year. This was especially so among 18 to 49 year old, whose audience share dropped 12 percent.

And yet, there was one type of viewership which had sky-rocketed. and that was Twitter users.

Hundreds of thousands of Twitter users broadcast their impressions of the ceremony live.

This is one of the major shifts in media consumption since the launch of social media platforms.

Now coming to social media marketing…
…. have you ever wondered, why one brand is so successful on social media, while others fail?

Generally, Social Media Marketing has produced great results. But only for those who know how to work it.

So, who are these ‘social media stars’?

The businesses which have invested the time to learned the nuances of social media marketing and adapted their approach are winning the social media battle.

What are the nuances?

I decided to dive deep into the secrets of social media marketing to uncover the specific aspects which make a brand successful. And what I explain below is the result of this very exercise.

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This article has 10,046 words. 78% readers of this article choose to download it to refer later. Click here to download the full PDF and checklist

As a result of my deep dive…

I found that social media is good when it comes to generating first time customers. But it is great for creating repeat customers and generating referrals.

This article will cover all the steps of social media marketing, from creating awareness to getting referrals.

You don’t realize it yet, but in the next few minutes you‘re going to see the entire framework of social media marketing strategy.

As you start reading at the beginning of this article you’ll find yourself getting the hang of social media and start enjoying it.

Now, because this is a researched article, this article is pretty unique. But there’s a particular distinction that makes it especially different from most other articles on social media.

Most articles only list down a bunch of tactics that you can use at your disposal; but, the strategies in this article are in a sequential six-step process.

In this article, I use the terms, social media and social networks interchangeably. They both mean the same for the context of this article.

If you intend to explore social media marketing…

for popularizing you brand, you can follow the exact steps described in this article to achieve your goal.

Although you can pick and choose the tactics that you want to use in any order, this step-by-step guide will get you started in the right way.

Conveniently, this step-by-step social media marketing process follows the acronym ROUTER. The steps include:

best social media marketing model

Social Media Marketing Step 1 : Reach out

    • Advertise in Social Media
    • Leverage network virality
    • Remember the cellphone
    • Connect using promotions
    • Generate leads locally
    • Social evaluations boosts ecommerce
    • Place brands in games

Social Media Marketing Step 2 : Open-up communication

  • Go beyond a profile
  • Allow users to generate content
  • Allow users to generate content
  • Track changing behavior
  • Track changing behavior
  • Create social buzz
  • Use social media to run contests
  • Conduct Brand Intelligence on social media
  • Maintain brand control
  • Use social networks for crowdsourcing
  • Jump in to moderate
  • Run petitions online
  • Build lists privately

Social Media Marketing Step 3 : Use participation

  • Learn From Customer
  • Have meaningful conversations, not just posts
  • Stay on top of competition
  • Co-create products
  • Reassure unsure buyers
  • Display negative comments
  • Avoid Aggressive Marketing
  • Adapt your messages
  • Collaborate with talent

Social Media Marketing Step 4 : Take steps to engage

  • Develop relationships not transactions
  • Induce loyalty through relationships
  • Provide exclusive privileges
  • Mine the data
  • Target right customer
  • Use customer check-ins

Social Media Marketing Step 5 : Enhance brand commitment

  • Use customer check-ins
  • Provide content communities
  • Use content aggregators
  • Create stronger social identity
  • Communicate group benefits early
  • Focus on the perceive relevance and perceived value
  • Create specific apps
  • Leverage Social Media to Sell

Social Media Marketing Step 6 : Reap advocacy

  • Drive more conversations
  • Get Word-Of-Mouth going
  • Leverage Media Sharing
  • Use of Forums
  • Blogs shape opinions
  • Social Bookmarking & Voting
  • Leverage Review sites
  • Display charity affiliations

This might seem like a simple list, but the amount of research I have poured through to produce this article is mind boggling.

I invite you to go through and enjoy this article.

There’s one-more thing …

But before you begin…

Audit your brand

Before you rush out to conquer the social media marketing world, analyze your brand to see if it is capable of

attracting the target audience and withstanding pressure.

If, for some reason, you cannot operate in the social networks, if your product is not the kind that generates conversations, or,

if there are risks to you brand equity, such as a fair chance of generating hostile conversations, then you should hold back or keep a low profile.

Done? Sure your brand stands up to the pressure? Then off to the next point…