Social media has become one of the most important marketers’ goldmines because it can generate huge number of leads that business people will not be able to get through other lead capturing means. That’s why business people who want to succeed should learn how to use social media and crush their competitors to ensure triumph.

Here are the things that online-based business individuals should know to succeed in social media marketing.

Perform a Social Media Competitive Analysis

It’s important to gauge the competition before performing any social media marketing tactics so that business owners would be able to determine how much effort, techniques and resources they should use to be able to top the competition.

By visiting the top social networking sites and finding out if their competitors have presence; they should have a quick insight of the competition. Business individuals should take note of the following to be able to effectively analyze their competitors.

• Number of fans/followers
• Frequency of posting/updates
• Kind of content being published
• Ratio of owned versus outsourced content
• Engagement of the business to its followers/fans

Website owners should also visit the sites and blogs of their competitors to determine if they take the social media marketing tactics seriously. This should be done for gathering data only and without any malicious intent. This should also be done on a regular basis to be able to stay abreast on the developments of the competitors’ strategies and updates.

Find and Create Killer Social Media Content Quickly

Online-based business owners should find and create killer social media content to be able to extend their reach and attract more followers. Posts and tweets are not the only content that should be focused on; rather, lead-generating content that could be put on the social networking sites and the owners’ website itself.

Business owners can do the following to be able to generate valuable and engaging social media content for their business:

• Making friends with guest bloggers –Guest bloggers are one of the people that business individuals should build a relationship with. These people can create great content for them without payment or other incentives.
• FAQs – Readers love reading and sharing questions and answers. Aside from being able to share information, website owners will have the chance to interact with their fans, therefore, build a relationship.
• Quick interviews – Interviews of people who are experts on concerned industries would interest followers and make them share and talk about the discussion, which would spread the popularity of the website that hosted the interview.

Here are also some useful content that will further help the generation of leads/followers.

Compilations of Data/Posts:

• Blog bundles – A compilation of blog posts concerning a certain topic.
• Compilation of data that could be helpful to someone from the same industry.
• Various presentation of content to be more accessible and reader-friendly.
• Updating of offers and promos.

Visual Content:

• Memes
• Infographics
• Charts and graphs
• Interesting data point
• Cartoons about the concerned industry
• Videos of case studies, interviews and how-tos

What Content to Post Where

Content is quite significant in social media marketing because it will be the thing that followers will read and go after. If a website owner’s social media content is interesting and informative, he will have more chances of gathering more followers, generating more leads, creating a good impression and extending his reach.

Facebook

The content that business owners should post on Facebook should be focused on visual content with accompanying texts for further explanations. The personality and engagement of the business owner should also be reflected in his posts make the fans know that he is approachable, trustworthy and ready to give help and assistance.

Twitter

Short and captivating content should be posted on Twitter because of the site’s character limit. Marketers should create content that precisely explains the objective and benefits of the business. They can also contain links on websites or blogs that will further explain the offer.

LinkedIn

Longer text promotions are encouraged in this site because it is more professional and the readers have longer attention span than other social networking sites. In this site, website owners can explain their goals and attract prospect customers with longer presentations and content with a more promotional tone.

Pinterest

Pinterest posts should be images that are conveying the precise message of the company without promoting the product and service itself. They should be of good quality to get more repins and followers and should contain website links leading to the owner’s website or salespage.

Quick Wins of Social Networking Sites

Here are some tricks that business owners can do to get more fans, followers, shares, likes, pins and many more on their chosen social networking site.

Facebook

• Post very short or very long posts
• Post tons of images with supporting texts
• Put personality on every content
• Posting of content on weekends

Twitter

• Post tweets that are 120-130 characters long
• Put links halfway the posts
• Post tweets that have ‘via’, ‘@’, and ‘RT’
• Post tweets during the weekend

Pinterest

• Put descriptions that are 200 characters long
• Post content that are related to ‘DIY’, ‘books’, ‘inspiration’ and ‘quotes’.
• Post tall images

Being More Efficient with Social Media Upkeep

Business people should make sure to stay up-to-date on social networking sites so that they are abreast on the latest happenings and new strategies that make gather more followers. Here are some tools that make social media marketing easier:

• Social Media Calendar
• Social Media Scheduling Tool
• Social Media Monitoring Tool

Marketers should schedule at least a day every week to check the social networking sites and update their techniques so that they will never get outdated. They should study their competitors and their own website and social networking site profiles to determine the level of competition and verify the strategies that their competitors use to stay on top.

Leverage Other Marketing Channels to Boost Social Media

Assimilating social media with other marketing channels will provide a wider reach to website owners’ followers and prospect buyers. Integrating of data from various marketing channels will help business owners to effectively combine their strategies for a more efficient marketing.

Here are some marketing channels that are worth integrating with social media marketing.

• Integrating Social Media and Email
• Integrating Social Media and SEO
• Integrating Social Media and Blogging
• by Melotel