2. Social Media Marketing Starts with Research
The first step in any social media marketing campaign is research. Research will tell you
how to engage your target audience, how often you should post, the messaging
strategy and the value proposition for your company.
It is best to monitor social media activities of your audience, competition and thought
leaders for at least 2 weeks. Note the type of messages and content that are most
engaging and try to find similarities among them.
For instance, I was conducting research for an NBA teams social media campaign. I
monitored the activities of the best and worst NBA teams to develop a list of best
practices and messaging guidelines. I found that friends and followers engaged more
when promotional content was tied into game stats. Therefore, whenever posting
promotional information I would start with a game stats and incorporate the
promotional message into details of the stats.
Another tactic to engage followers is to pose a questions. This was especially effective
for the NBA team. Sports fans enjoy discussing their favorite teams and players and want
to give their two cents.
In addition to messaging, I also found that certain layouts on Facebook were more
engaging than others. During the season posting directly before and after games
increased the engagement level and sports fans consume photos and videos related to
the game.
3. Target Audience- Know Your Audience
Once you define who your target audience is start monitoring their activities on social
media sites. Use the following questions to guide your research:
1. What type of content does my target audience engage with most frequently?
2. Who and what type of businesses does my target audience interact with?
4. Competition- Speak Louder and Clearer
When identifying your competition make sure you define success
so you don’t try to mimic unsuccessful tactics. Keep track of the
messages and content that is shared most frequently as well as
the content that has no engagement.
Define Success
1. # Friends / Followers
2. Level of Engagement (see Image on previous page)
3. Overall Online Buzz
5. Online Buzz is defined by the number of times a brand is
mentioned over a give period of time. There are a number of
reporting tools that will measure the buzz for any keyword you
enter. Google Alerts is a free and simple way to monitor the
buzz around your competition.
In addition to the number of mentions of a brand online; the
sentiment of mentions also offers insight into the success of a
brands social media marketing efforts.
6. Thought Leaders
I always like to review brands that have been recognized for their
successful social media campaigns. The links below will direct you
to articles and case studies examining the best social media
efforts in 2010.
http://soshable.com/top-social-media-2010/
http://www.portentinteractive.com/portfolio_casestudies.htm
7. End Result
After you have completed your audience analysis, message and
content review, monitored competitors and the thought leaders in
social media you will be able to define the following for your
social media campaign:
1. Message
2. Frequency
3. Value Proposition
4. Best Time of Day and Week to Post
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