Where Does Social Media Fit In The Marketing Process?

social media marketing

What part does social media play in your marketing? Do you have a Facebook Business Page because everyone else does? Are you seeing results? Do you know how to determine whether social media is working or not?

The internet and social media have changed consumer behavior. The consumer is now able to do a lot more pre purchase research, which means they are better educated buyers. And consumers are connected to more people than ever before – making it easier to get reviews, recommendations and feedback. Having a presence on social media is important for marketing, but to be successful at social media marketing its important to understand what role social media plays in the bigger picture, and how to best leverage it to achieve your end goal.

Consider marketing in this simple 3 step process:

Get Found: Make sure your prospects know about your business. Do they know what you do? Do they know how you help them?
Get Leads: Make it easy for prospects to tell you they’re interested in your company, product or service. Provide the additional information they’re looking for and get them sales ready.
Get Customers: Make sure your customers know what to do, whether that is to buy online, book a consultation, or visit an online retail store.

So where does social media fit in?

My recommendation is that social media should be at the beginning of the marketing process. Social media sites are the perfect platform to build targeted connections, whether its Facebook ads, LinkedIn Groups or the Twitter advanced search function. Allowing you to build rapport and trust – and educating your network about your company, who you are and what you do. The content you share on social media sites tells a story about your company’s personality, values and people. Let it shine through. Share client testimonies, company news, publish blogs, answer questions, publish relevant data, speaking engagements and events.

This is not to say that social media doesn’t have its place for lead generation or customer acquisition but this generally comes after you’ve built a strong network of people who love you.

Over the years Ive published several articles on social media marketing and I thought it would help you if they were all in one place, so I compiled one list, see below.

If you have any questions about social media marketing for your business share them in the comment section below.