SSS for Success — Page 25

The Social Media Planning Process (Part 1)

Typically, what I like to do at SSS for Success is map out a Social Media Marketing Plan that fits squarely within the overall marketing plan of a company. Specifically, the Social Media Marketing Plan highlights how social media outlets will be utilized to:

1) Drive traffic to your company’s website or blog,

2) Generate interest in the site’s content,

3) Generate sales or leads for new customers, and

4) Provide ways of keeping existing customers actively engaged in the company’s brand through its website, blog, or other social media outlets.

In order to accomplish the goals set forth in this Social Media Marketing Strategy, I usually take a company through the process of creating and updating their profiles on various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube. Then I delve into more specific strategies intent on acquiring more Twitter Followers, Facebook Fans, LinkedIn Connections, and YouTube Subscriptions through a series of mindful updates that are relevant to each of these communities and ultimately help your company build that brand recognition among the users who frequent these communities.

For those that have already created many of these accounts, I step back and analyze the medium in question in relation to the overall marketing goals of the company. Everyone doesn’t need a Twitter account. Now, it is always a good idea to register your brand name just in case you need it for future use, but just having a Twitter account and sending out random, sporadic, or spammy messages every now and again only promoting your brand, doesn’t do you any good. So part of the Social Media Planning Process is accessing which avenues are going to work best for your brand message to reach your core customers. What that means is if you’re using these outlets now, but not using them well, then you may need to discontinue them, or perhaps change the direction so that it fits better into your online marketing strategy.

With this in mind, can you firmly state Why You Need Social Media in your small business?

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist

The Social Media Planning Process (Part 1)

An Introduction to the SSS for Success Blog and Podcast Series

By sss4success 9 Comments

Before creating this blog, I took my own advice and did some planning. I’ve done a bit of blogging before, and writing online content in various places, but I wanted to make sure that when I wrote for the signature blog for my SSS for Success brand, that I not only did a great job, but that I created the kind of content that was reflective of me, my philosophy and the message that I hope will forever resonate with the brand: Small Business Survival Specialists: Social Media Covered!

For those that don’t know, SSS for Success (Small Business Survival Specialists) is actually an offshoot of the EASY Brand Marketing Program where it operated as a tertiary service within the program’s “S” step of “Securing the most effective ways to build and maintain customer relationships using technology”. The overwhelming response to the Technology and Social Media portions of the program, coupled with the true need of many Middle Tennessee business owners to bring their business into the 21st Century, made SSS for Success the Small Business Survival Specialists they are today, specializing in preparing small and medium-sized organizations to take advantage of the free and low-cost marketing avenues that exist in the online arena.

As part of my planning process, I followed my own tips for creating a blog calendar, and have subsequently outlined what I’ll be blogging about for the next few months. My goal is to begin with the Social Media Planning Process, and take you through the steps of integrating social media effectively within your company’s marketing plan.

I read a lot of business books and tips on how to improve your business and carve out your own niche and make sure that your message gets delivered to the right people. During this time, I’ve somewhat struggled to clearly define who my “niche market” is, based on these seemingly rigid terms that demographics-based questions bring to the forefront. I now know that my “niche market” or target audience (whichever language you prefer) are small business owners who don’t want to waste their resources (neither time nor money) on social media tactics that don’t work. I’m interested in people who know that social media and technology is an ever-changing field, but that they continually want to evolve and continue to grow their business by capitalizing on the fertile ground that lies therein. My ideal customers are people won’t know that they don’t know a lot about social media, but they’re open-minded enough to learn. I try my best to make technology not as intimidating as it’s often perceived, and I hope that over time people began to realize this.

Now, I want to share a little bit about me, to put this out there, and maybe answer some lingering questions that there may be about the blog’s design, and the design of my company’s website. I take a lot of flak for not focusing more on the “bells and whistles” of a graphics-heavy design that provides lots of eye-candy for readers. This is intentional. I’d much rather spend an hour putting together two awesome blog posts and a podcast, than I would sitting on the phone with a graphic designer trying to explain my vision, or understand their concepts.

I’m essentially looking to cut pass the fluff, and get to the heart of the things that people need to understand in the Web 2.0 environment. For me, this is about “survival mode”. And in “survival mode” you’ve got to master the basics. And that’s pretty much it for an introduction. Plus, I’m already past my own self-imposed 400 word blog post limit, so I’ll end this here by encouraging you to let me know: How can I help you today?

Kindra Cotton, Small Business Survival Specialist

An Introduction to the SSS for Success Blog and Podcast Series