One of the Top 7 SEO Trends in 2015 is that Google, as the top search engine, will look at social signals from Facebook and Twitter. Content Marketing will be bigger this year but social media marketing will still be as effective and beneficial.
Most brands outsource the social media team but it is highly recommended that an in-house group manage this part. Doing so will maximize the potential of social media marketing. Act-On, a leader in the field of marketing automation, has shared some important tricks to incorporate social media to a brand’s marketing channels in an eBook. (The major points of which we will be discussing below.)
A social media campaign is only one part of a cross-channel marketing plan. It should not be THE ONLY PLAN. It must be used together with other advertising strategies in the modern market. Sadly, there are brands and companies that do not even have a social media team and this is quite a disadvantage.
When we say social media marketing, this refers to Internet marketing on the top social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest among others. A few months ago, we’ve shared with you the 9 Best Pinterest Marketing Tips. Before that, we featured some DO’s and DON’Ts od Facebook Social Media Marketing, as well as, 15 Twitter for Social Media Marketing Tips.
The Act-On team believes that “marketers can manage all their online marketing efforts from a single dashboard that can be seamlessly integrated with CRM”. Doing this will provide sales access into different marketing functions, thanks to marketing automation. No need to develop complex campaigns.
Social Media Integration
by: Act-On
It is important that a brand or a marketing organization identify its current social status. To know this, check if the following statements are true to your company:
- Social media marketing is not currently part of our marketing strategy.
- Our social media team is not involved in our marketing planning.
- We hire interns and entry-level people to handle our social media.
- We outsource our social media to an agency.
- We tried social and it didn’t work.
If only one statement is true to about your marketing efforts (or the lack of it), then you are not taking advantage of what social media can do. It’s a marketing channel that can be very effective when “integrated into a large cross-channel marketing plan” according to Act-On.
Here are 5 effective ways you can do to integrate social media into your current marketing campaign efforts:
- Include social media in your marketing calendar
Make sure you add social media efforts to your marketing calendar. Work on real-time engagement by setting up a front-line team who will respond to clients and customers on social networks. Be proactive. Be timely and relevant but don’t overdo it. Post regularly but schedule your posts. You don’t want to annoy people with hourly posts. - Make all content shareable
So you have the right amount of quality content to share? Make sure to make them shareable. Add share buttons and Pin It buttons to every content or image. Doing this will increase brand reach significantly. There are free plugins for every social media website but you can avail of paid options so you can customize messages and track how many shares or measure the extent of reach. - Embed social media feeds on a landing page
Make a landing page and integrate all your social media feeds there. Use hashtags especially on Twitter and Instagram. If you are holding an event, ask participants to share photos and use a particular #hashtag. You can embed a Twitter or Instagram feed on a page so people can view your posts all in one place. - Reward social media influences
Think about how you can use industry experts and brand advocates to help in your marketing campaigns. These are people who have earned the respect and trust of other professionals and experts in the market. You can give influencers free gifts such as an eBook, a prominent link, or send them an actual gift. - Integrate with events
Add social media elements to an event. To attract people to your booth, you can offer some freebies or a special gift to the participants. If making a keynote or presentation, you can shorten your statements to 140 characters so they can be tweetable. You can also create a Pinterest board for each event so more people can view and follow your photos.
