Firstly, it’s important to know what types of platforms exist and what they are used for. Secondly, you must decide what facet of your product or service you want to market. Perhaps, you want to market them as a whole. In addition, it’s also possible that you want to market yourself by communicating your experience, knowledge and qualifications to the public. Every one of these examples will use social media platforms in a different way and, hence, it is essential to know what your aim is.
Thirdly, you must be aware of your target group. These days, every young person has a Facebook and Twitter profile. Most people with a professional career have a LinkedIn profile. If your target group is people between the ages of 50 and 70, you must think very carefully whether social media is the right option for your marketing.
Although many people between these ages are active on these platforms, there are also many of them who are not. Keep this in mind. At the end of the day, it is extremely important to know exactly what platforms exist, what you want to market and to whom. This will enable you to make an informed decision about it and to save heaps of money on marketing costs.
EXAMPLE: RESTAURANT
Assume that you currently own a small restaurant that sells light lunches and drinks. You only have a small budget for your marketing and you have decided to use social media for this. Firstly, you must decide what facet of your restaurant you want to market and what your aim is. You really want more people to come to your restaurant, and you want certain times of the day to be busier.
Hence, you decide:
(1) to market your business as a whole; and
(2) to have promotions at certain times of the day to obtain more clients.
Secondly, you must determine your target group. The dominant target group is young professionals who come and enjoy lunch and who also have drinks after work. However, over the weekends, your clients differ between the ages of 20 and 50.Your target group is definitely people who use social media, so your marketing campaign gets the green light. Since you have a tight budget, you decide to use Facebook and a blog for your marketing. Your main focus will be on a Facebook page.
1. Facebook
There is one rule with a Facebook page that you must remember: the more, the better. The more people who like your restaurant’s page, the more people who will notice your page. Every person on Facebook has a list of friends or acquaintances who they communicate with. If you have 200 acquaintances, all 200 people will be able to see when you share photos, make comments, like business pages, etcetera. For every person who likes your restaurant’s Facebook
page, there are hundreds of others who will notice it. A ripple effect occurs and your exposure is exponential!
Follow these steps to get your Facebook page up and running and then use it as a powerful marketing method.
Step 1: Establish a Facebook page using your restaurant’s name. Also add a suitable profile photo and provide as much information about your business as possible.
Step 2: Get your current clients to like your page. You can do this by asking your clients personally when they visit your restaurant. You can also put up posters in your restaurant, which will bring the fact that you have a Facebook page to your clients’ attention. Every one of your clients’ friends on Facebook will notice it and, in this way, you’ll obtain fantastic exposure. Remember, the more, the better.
Step 3: Time to share. A Facebook page is only successful if you put valuable, relevant and interesting information on it. You could possibly share one of your sandwich recipes, an appropriate joke or a thought for the day. But, be careful of sharing too much. People don’t want to receive hundreds of messages from you every day. This puts people off quickly.
Step 4: Market the hours of your promotion. You have very few clients
between nine and eleven during the week and you want these times to be busier. Hence, market a free coffee between these times, but only if visitors
have liked your Facebook page. In this way, you won’t only get more feet coming into your restaurant, but also more eyes on your page.
2. A blog
After your Facebook page is up and running, you can start spending a bit of time on your blog. Since social media is so adaptable and flexible, you can easily link your Facebook page and your blog together. Your blog could initially consist of one entry per week, and then you could make more regular entries at a later stage. Since you are in the food industry, you could start by sharing a few recipes, cocktails and cooking tips. Link these entries to your Facebook page. At a later stage, you could also start writing about other topics and, in this way, you could enlarge your group of readers.
COSTS INVOLVED
In general, social media is a very cheap marketing method, provided you keep it simple and in a standard form. The moment that you want to start advertising on Facebook, for instance, you will have to spend money. Setting up basic Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube profiles, as well as blogs,is free. Find the right platforms and packages and you won’t have to pay a dime. The only costs, which you may have to pay, are when you market your social media platforms. This plays a crucial role in your success; market your marketing. You could print posters and distribute pamphlets to inform potential clients of your social media platforms.
CONCLUSION
Social media could save you thousands of dollars in marketing expenses, provided you use it correctly. There is so much room for thinking out of the box. Be creative and unique, so that your marketing stands out. By doing careful research about your goal, target group and the different platforms that are available to you, you could put together a fantastic and powerful, social media.