Getting started in a business can be a very daunting task……..all the more so if it’s in the foreign territory that is called social media marketing. When people say social media marketing, one’s first response is to think of computers and people working on computers. But, that is not necessarily the main point of which you need to be aware.
To start your own social media marketing business, you need to understand that your company has to focus on how to BE SOCIAL rather than how to DO SOCIAL media. You cannot sell something if you’re not wearing it, so to speak. For any entrepreneur in the game, you need to wear the finest custom-fit clothes before you can compete with the big dogs.
Understand this first point: social media marketing is a transport vehicle. It is not a goal in itself, it is simply a means to an end. What is this goal of yours ? To sell your products and services, of course ! Social media marketing must be able to promote these products and services through advertising and publicity…….among other things. The first thing you need to do, to set up shop, is to build a team, arm them with the necessary software, and develop and implement the rest of the strategy.
At this point in time, social media marketing will have been around for the past decade or more. By this time, there have already been a number of successful and unsuccessful ways to operate this business. You want to listen to these ‘stories’ and learn from these experiences. Do your research, in a manner of speaking. History can be a good source of social media marketing information and it goes a long way to know the ups and downs of the profession from those who have actually been there.
While the possibilities number into the hundreds, social media marketing can’t accomplish all of that from a small entrepreneurial endeavor. What you need to do is to identify the main purpose of social media marketing. Is it for the sake of brand awareness, are you selling items online, or are you simply doing it for your customers’ informational purposes ?
In the long run, you can have all these and more, but it would be best to focus on just one for the meantime and work from there. While we’re on the subject of strategy, what are your goals ? When and how can you say it has been a good day for your company ? Keep these in mind as one can tend to lose track of the details when the ball gets rolling.
And finally……what makes your social media marketing strategy unique ? From brand names and signature touches, to be able to go long and far, you need to have a defining feature. This has to set you apart from the rest of the social media markets, making you the better option for your customers.
This can range from warranties to service and maintenance, to shipping and promos, to basically any other special aspect you can think off that gives you the advantage. Keeping these in mind, social media marketing won’t be easy but it will be very much doable with a strategic, goal-oriented, and focused mindset.