Social media is a great way to interact and communicate directly with your online customers, but without engagement and Return on Investment (ROI), you're just spinning your wheels. When used strategically, it can grow your customer base, increase visits to your website, and ultimately increase your sales. If you’re a really savvy social media user, you can do it all for free. You can start by downloading our social media planning template, here. If you're looking for an introduction on how to get started with social media before you start measuring, check out our introduction to social media marketing.

According to the 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner, 92% of marketers use social media for business. And, there’s a very good reason for that.

If you’re doing social media marketing, then you probably already have our social media planning template, and you’re now spending time posting, sharing, gaining likes – following all the steps that lead to a successful social media strategy. Now it’s time to analyze social media metrics and see how your efforts are paying off.

Measure

If you’re managing a social media account, tracking the numbers from start to finish is important in showing proof of performance and ROI on social media. Updating and tracking each week will help you notice trends and gauge performance. You will learn what your audience prefers, allowing you to tweak your future posts accordingly. Remember, you want to give your audience what they like.

Get the Timing Right

Social media optimization starts with timing. You can create and share the greatest content in the world - but if no one is seeing it, it might as well be invisible. Timing is critical for engagement and a successful social media strategy, and we have the best times to post right here in our social media planning template.

The purpose of social media is to create a community and build awareness around your brand. You want to post content when your audience is present. If no one is there to see your posts or read them, you won’t receive the interaction you’re looking for.

Since every social media channel is different, finding the most opportune time to post may take some experimenting. A great way to discover the best time for optimum engagement is by testing frequency and timing of your posts. Try posting at different times and on different days; keep track of the analytics and monitor engagement. Record which posts are doing the best and receiving the highest amount of engagement.

You got your social media planning template. Your social media marketing strategy is in full swing. You’ve selected the social media channels that will help you reach your target audience, and you’ve created the accounts. You started following your industry leaders and you’ve been sharing quality content. You’re growing a good following and continue to gain followers each day.

Sounds great, but in order to keep your current followers and to keep growing, you have to engage. Social media is just like a plant, you have to keep watering it to keep it growing and thriving.

To engage, means to occupy, attract, or involve. And in the social media world, it’s no different than the traditional definition. Basically, you need to be present, entertaining, informative and responsive.

Identify and Follow

If you really want to build your business, follow influential people in your geographic area and in your industry. It is a key tenant of social media marketing strategy development.

Begin by making a list of 15- 20 contacts you would like to build a business relationship with. Spend some time looking at social media profiles. Identify organizations, trend- and thought-leaders who are regarded as influential in your industry who have an active social media strategy. Do an online search and search within the social channel. (Most social media channels will recommend or suggest accounts to follow based on your interests and industry.)

Things to consider when determining social media influentials are their number of followers, how often they post, and whether they are engaging with their followers. If all these are present, follow them and begin fostering an online relationship.

So, where do you stand on your social media strategy? Well for one, start by downloading our social media planning template. But we digress. 

You have a good grasp of who your audience is and understand your buyer’s interests. You’ve determined which social media channels are going to work best for your audience, now it’s time to start sharing content.

The best brands listen, share and post in that order. It’s up to you to really create the “social” aspect of social media.

Start by listening. 

Listen to people’s concerns, the conversation they’re having, their concerns and the questions they’re asking. For the most useful conversations, search for and follow those related to your business. This is where you will learn the most about your social media audience and, more importantly, what is important and relevant to them.

Social profile creation is all about understanding the social media your business is using. Every social media platform varies in its posting display, type of content, engagement model, and active user -- so it’s important to develop a creative strategy that’s going to reach your target audience and ideal buyers.

Social media platforms are as unique as their users. From micro-blogging and 140 character limits, to pinning and following boards -- a proper understanding of social media is essential. 

Being a digital marketer in Lansing, Michigan often means that working with clients outside of our area and answering the question - “What is digital marketing?”

If you do a good deal of media buying, you are probably aware that the most common misperception is, that digital marketing is limited to the offerings that media reps are out selling to businesses. These offerings tend to be advertising on content networks and websites, search engine optimization, and some social media. But digital marketing offers much broader and far reaching opportunites. People are amazed at the depth and potential of digital marketing. So, what is digital marketing?