What's Working Really Well in Social Media Marketing? (CHART)

By jmacofearth On 11/18/2011 · 28 Comments

Social media marketing is a lot of different things. What social marketing activities can move your bottom line in the positive direction? Here's a recent poll from companies who are seeing social marketing success.

Data from recent Smart Brief .

In the early days social media meant "building a community." And while this activity still ranks the highest, it's also the most difficult. Build it and they won't necessarily come.

So what are the quick hits for social media success that are easily within everyone's reach?

Blogging: The quiest way to improve your website traffic, establish your company as a thought leader in your business space. And the search engines LOVE recent and frequently updated content. And as more social metrics become part of the search rankings, blogging, done with a little planning and thought, may be the easiest way to improve your social media outreach AND your SEO (search engine optimization) at the same time.

Social Monitoring and Responding: Have you set up simple Google Alerts on your brand or company name? Do you know how to do quick searches on Twitter, or how to set up Tweetdeck or Hootsuite to monitor mentions of your business, twitterID, or specific hashtags related to your business? And if you set two points in the day to check in and respond to your social activity, you can make sure you are engaging with people who are talking about your business.

Remember, social media marketing is about networking, connecting, and establishing relationships with individuals who are promoting or dissing your brand. If you are not listening, you're missing the conversation. And if you only broadcast content on the social channels (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn) but don't put in time to respond to comments and other content, you are missing the opportunity to establish trust and give individuals a reason to promote and share your message.

The immediate ROI of social media networking may not come through click-to-buy buttons or contact forms, but when today's customer is considering purchasing your service or product, what is being said about your company online is a first step in the purchase consideration cycle. Your customer is going to Google you and you need to make sure you are FOUND (by creating good content) and that the conversation about your business INCLUDES YOU.

And if you need any help setting up your social listening and social marketing plans, just ask, I'm right here. And check out the Social Media for Business page.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
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A few more posts about learning social media:

Source: Smart Brief on Social Media, Which social media activity is benefits your company most?

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