The main goal of any social media marketing program is to first build a loyal audience and also get high level of engagement from your followers. Also it is critically important that you have some patience and understand you have just begun the journey. You need to start by building relationships with content that is engaging and will get noticed, creating a real connection with your customers.
Patience is key to any social media marketing program no matter the type or size of business. In today’s world of instant gratification, we tend to forget that things take time. Most recently, I’ve found with a few of my clients, they tend grow increasingly frustrated with social media and it may not immediately deliver a measurable return on investment. So despite what some “social media experts” might lead you to believe, building a stable social presence takes time, effort and patience – like any normal relationship. Similar to how there is no magical potion to convince someone to fall in love with you, it is nearly impossible to speed up the formation of your online presence. We have spent our time so far building that relationship and getting our fans to trust us.
Let’s start with the key fundamentals.
The point of social media marketing for businesses, is to establish brand loyalty and gaining access and building a lasting long-term relationship with our customer. We do this where they live online with engaging stories and content. This means that customers learn to trust you, your values the content we are providing and thus consider us an expert in auto body repair. In order to get to this point, we must accept a few key things:
1. Committing to social media is like getting married, you’re in it for the long haul (usually). Social media is not a quick-fix marketing solution. With the amount of information circulating around the World Wide Web, it can take a while for your company to reach the top and to get traction and conversions with social. Big name companies like Southwest Airlines and Tim Hortons have been using Facebook since 2009 and they are still working to build client relationships everyday in their social media marketing efforts!
2. Social media is most effective when you start small. While it might be helpful for SEO reasons to have many social profiles. We have started with a focussed approach on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, it is nearly impossible to use them all and use them all well. Even with help from the main stay media coverage, a friend or family member, it takes even more time, effort and patience to keep each platform updated with relevant content. We have done this utilizing an efficient tool called ‘HeyOrcha’, that allows for consistent frequent posts for our followers. It allows us to schedule and organize the content and posts ahead of time in an organized fashion.
3. The key to a successful relationship is communication. To create a strong social presence, it is equally important to interact with our customers and online communities as it is to post original content. We have been liking and commenting on other relevant posts, this will help our online voice be heard and hopefully lead new clients back to our social profiles and local Colorworks business. Still, it will take time for users to trust us as a reliable source.
At the end of the day, there is no magic potion or secret app that will exponentially increase our online presence and conversions. True brand loyalty and trust comes from consistency, persistency, dedication, interaction and patience. It also means you need to start with relationship building content and then as time goes on you can add some special promotions and offers that you can test and see how they deliver from a conversion perspective. You are connecting with our audience and providing them with the majority of the value in the relationship without ever really asking for anything in return. You are providing them with content and conversation for months and then eventually, after 7 months of giving and giving and giving you finally go in for the ask. So we are almost ready to mix in some sales driving tactics. That's right, 7 months. Not 7 days, or 7 weeks. You need to provide valuable content and one-on-one interactions with our followers for over half of the year, every day, and not asking them for a thing. You are providing the value and now that you have something coming down the pipe you have the leverage.
If you would like me to look at your social media marketing strategy contact me @ ron.caughlin@brandstoriesinc.com or 1-647-466-9717