5 Key Steps To Mastering The Social Media Marketing Landscape

I had the pleasure of  being accomodated at 5 star hotel the other day and when I went down to breakfast I was confronted by an array of  food selections that an ancient Roman Emperor would have been impressed with.

The luxury of  choices that confronted  me was overwhelming and selecting what to eat almost becomes an exercise in filtering the noise and array of stimuli of  sight and smell  that stood spread before me.

Do I eat something that is a change from my normal  day to day diet or should I be courageous and select something I would not normally have at home? Should it be really healthy, slightly healthy or or just plain decadent. Will it be a hot or a cold meal. Should I get a custom made meal by ordering at the counter like a young couple next to me were ordering, or should I just take something on display.

So much choice and not enough time or appetite to try everything.

Social Media Marketing has the presented the marketer with so many choices in the last few years.

• What platforms should I be using  to promote my blog or company?
• How many channels will I select to achieve my goals?
• Should I stick with what I know or what should I push the boundaries and test something new?
• What channels should I use to to communicate to my target markets?
• What are the messages I should send out?
• What listening tools should I use?
• What apps should I use to increase my effeciency?
• What analytics tools are the best for our situation?

So where do you start?

First:  Define your audience – get very clear on who you are communicating to (eg  Is it Gen Y, Gen X or Baby Boomers?)

Second: Set the goals ( they don’t necessarily need to be all financial in nature) – Leads, brand awareness , quality of leads, increase in dollar value of the sale  and number of sales

Third: Develop your social media marketing strategy

Fourth: Then the tactical level of  selecting the different social media platforms that are appropriate for your audience .. where do they hang out? Facebook, YouTube or other channels? You then can calculate what resources you need such as financial, tools and people.

Fifth: Optimize and Integrate Your Social Media Channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter  and LinkedIn as well as Optimizing your website and blog for search and don’t forget the PR.

So how do “You” cope with all those choices?