Social Media Marketing Plan for Your Startup

It only takes one day--24 hours--to roll out a social media marketing strategy that can boost your bottom line. That is, if you know how to spend your time.The big three--LinkedIn, social media marketing plan pdf Facebook and Twitter-- along with secondary social media sites like Foursquare, Groupon and ShareSquare, all offer once-unimaginable marketing tools. Real-time customer preference data, worldwide dissemination of company information and even the means to mass-distribute coupons … it's all available at our fingertips. Heck, these days you can even use barcodes to sell your products and services.While marketing socially can be a road to opportunity, it can also lead to wasted business resources."Social media is what's happening; it's game-changing stuff," says Erika Brown, executive vice president of corporate strategy for Frost & Sullivan, an international consulting agency with a practice in social media. "But, it's far too easy for the inexperienced to spin their wheels and spend money and time on things they don't understand how to use effectively and measure properly."To keep you from entering the social media time vortex, here's a step-by-step, hour-by-hour guide to designing, building and rolling out your own web 2.0 marketing plan.A full day means a full day. Social media can be easy to use, filled with fascinating concepts and even fun--but it takes time. Plan on a full 24 hours to get your social marketing system running. It's probably best to invest roughly two hours a day over a two-week period.It's shorthand for "Check this out" or "Trust me, this is cool." Google+ is a full-on social networking utility. social media marketing best practices Baccus recommends that if someone purchases shares of your business or brand, give them a “shout out” and consider buying their shares. “Authentic reciprocity is a big part of Empire Avenue,” he says. Baccus also recommends responding in-kind to those who mention your brand on the site. “Follow up with everyone who engages with your page.That’s why they’re called “communities.”

Get to know your computer and smartphone

If you're just getting the hang of this online, smartphone, web software thing, selling with these tools is not for you--not yet, anyway. First, you should be comfortable with logging into online software, how to start a social media marketing business installing mobile apps and accessing the web in complex environments.AT&T’s Baccus says he responded to a player’s post about his company’s service, which drew a stunned response from the poster when he realized a company as large at AT&T replied to his query. This quickly established AT&T as a bona fide and trusted member of the community.You're in the home stretch. You have a static, search engine-friendly website to help customers find you both on- and offline. You have a qualified community of current and likely customers via LinkedIn. You can socialize with customers on your cleaned-up Facebook personal page, while maintaining an up-to-the-minute running résumé of your work on your Facebook business page. You have the means to track your customers and attract potential ones via Twitter. And you are targeting your message geographically using discounts or other new technologies with Foursquare, Groupon or ShareSquare.Now comes the critical part: learning to keep things manageable. Considering the power and potential of even one of these tools, it's easy to get distracted by the sheer vastness of it all. You will see people with 1,500 Facebook friends, 15,000 Twitter followers and 500-plus LinkedIn connections. Don't sweat it. You only need to serve a few new customers.Start with your best leads on LinkedIn and look at your established connections. They also have connections, so search them for potential clients. Poke around on Facebook, Twitter and the other platforms to see if your connections there have pages and feeds. how to social media marketing If your business offers a solution for them, start following them on Twitter or even make a friend request on Facebook. If it feels like a match, ask for a formal connection on LinkedIn. Be sure to support your first pitch with solid tweets, an excellent image on Facebook and the proper incentives on other platforms. If you do this, your customers should be happy to connect you.

Know your brand, customers and potential customers

Social media marketing is moot unless you can clearly communicate what you do. It's important to know who buys from you and who might potentially buy from you.We know, this is supposed to be a social media guide, social media marketing 2014 so what's a static web page doing here? The fact is, no matter what social media webs you spin, your business still needs a single, easy-to-find web space that defines your brand message, matches that brand to basic search terms customers might use to find you and provides clear and accurate contact information.Do not bother with pricey web designers or developers. Basic website tools like those from Google Apps, Windows Live and Intuit Websites offer powerful low- or no-cost web services that work perfectly well.In the age of Facebook and Twitter you don't need a complex, multipage website filled with dynamic content. A single-page site that scrolls down can be just the virtual brochure you need. Leave the heavy lifting to social media.Then there's Sparks, which brings to your screen articles and videos and contacts about things that interest you — things like rock climbing or surfing or stamp collecting. This is also a social option that enables you to link up with others who share your interests.With Hangouts, you get on-screen gatherings with a few close friends or business contacts that can take on the appearance of sitting around a bar or meeting room. Just some face-to-face conversation that's really convenient because you didn't have to drive anywhere to participate.Going mobile on Google+ might offer smartphone users a lot of options, including adding an immediate location to every post, best social media marketing or instantly sending photos to friends or an online album. And then there's Huddle, which adds instant group messaging to your smartphone.Oh, and by the way, Google+ shouldn't be confused with Google +1. Google +1 is an experimental feature that enables those with a Google Profile to offer a personal endorsement of a product or service that they've tried themselves.