The advantages of social media have only recently surfaced. Day by day, people are beginning to notice how useful social media is and how relatively easy it is to use. There are some businesses that are so taken aback by the sudden success of others that they think jumping right away into social media is the only answer.
Businesses that jump into this situation without any social media strategy will most likely fail. As with everything that we do, we always need to think first before any action lest we suffer the consequences of our wrongdoings. In order to make social media work for your business, you need to have a plan of action. Here are some questions you need to ask yourself before engaging in any social media advertising.
1. What is your goal?
Is your purpose to advertise a certain charity or event? Are you in search of possible clients to avail of your service? Do you have a product that is not getting the attention it deserves? These are some of the questions which you need to answer first in order for you to pick the best social media strategy for your business. Once you have a specific goal in mind, you will know what to do online.
2. Who is your audience?
This is one area where businesses commonly make a mistake. They usually target audiences of all ages and are not specific at all. This is where legal cases usually barge in. If you do not know where your social media reaches, you could get in trouble. Think about it. What if a fourth grader sees an inappropriate advertisement regarding condoms and decides to buy one? Although we cannot help it that sometimes our information reaches under-age people, at least have the courtesy to put an advisory in your advertisements regarding the age range.
3. Which is the best site to get your message to your target audience?
Finally, once you have everything all planned out, you must decide what site to utilize. There are tons of social media sites out there that you probably won’t run out of options. Still, it is better to stick to only a couple of excellent sites rather than spam a lot by using numerous ones. The two most common social media sites are of course, Facebook and Twitter. It is highly advised that you focus on these two first before attempting to go on other sites. Once you are well established there, you are free to promote on other sites as you wish.
See my guide on Social Media Marketing Goals and Objectives, It is a good place to start.
