Social Media Marketing Essentials

So everyone’s trying to get on the social media marketing action.

It’s only natural; times are rough and incomes need to be supplemented – for a lot of us it’s about making ends meet.

Truth be told, even I have been dabbling with social media marketing quite extensively for the past few months. Like helping clients strengthen their social media presence to assisting friends to build pages for their home-bases businesses.

One thing I have learned is that this social media rabbit hole is so deep that even the Mariana trench doesn’t stand a chance.

The other thing I’ve learned is that there is only so much reading and researching you can do. You got to get started, tweak and find your voice as you go along.

Otherwise you will be stuck in the rabbit hole with a severe case of analysis paralysis. Done is surely better than perfect when it comes to the social media game.

To ease the pain and get you going, here are 5 essential must-haves to start your social media selling foray on a budget:

  1. Make a Good Logo

Social Logo

A no-brainer perhaps, but I have seen far too many social profiles with scratched-up, Powerpoint-like logos. Branding intricacies aside, a good logo gives your brand (or voice) an identity and acts as a point of differentiation. And make sure your logo is optimised for social media use, meaning having it in hi-res JPEGs and most importantly transparent PNGs for easier overlays onto visuals.

TIP: Use platforms such as fiverr.com or freelancer.com to get your logo done. A lot of upstart graphic designers in these platforms can get your logo done on the cheap and fully optimised. Remember to always ask for the source file, so you can make changes in future.

  1. Have a Daily Theme

Daily Theme

The most common frustration among social media marketing professionals is having to consistently generate content to post. As an admin for 7 social media pages, I often have my pening moments too. One way to ease this process is to have a theme for each day of the week you intend to post. This helps because it focuses your thoughts on developing content based on themes, rather than thinking in general, which can lead to wandering and analysis paralysis.

TIP: List 20 themes you would like to focus on. Let’s say you intend to post 5 days a week, pick 5 themes for each day. And if you run out of content ideas for a particular theme, you still have 15 more themes to fall back on.

  1. Build Your Asset

Social Assets

While some people can get away with posting engaging content on-the-fly, it doesn’t really work that way for the rest of us. Don’t think you will post when an idea pops-up – surely this is a formula for failure. Work on creating your visual assets – be it video or images – so you have a stream of content ready, avoiding last-minute shoots or scrambling for free stock images.

TIP: If you are selling a physical product, photograph your products in every imaginable angle and setting. For service-related sellers, explore platforms such as upsplash.com for a decent selection images that you can use for free, without copyright issues.

  1. Use a Design Tool

Social Design

Between all the sizes, formats, resolutions, watermarks, layouts and optimisation are pains-in-the-ass. And using a designer for every visual you create is going to leave you with a funds-related heartache. Fortunately, there are countless online tools that you can use for free that makes design work pretty darn simple for the average design-handicapped person.

TIP: Check imageonline.com for super easy editing of your images with great functionality for beginners. For even more pro-looking visuals, you can start with a free account at Canva, Crello or Adobe Spark. Paid accounts can be expensive, but lookout for lifetime deals and you could snag a bargain.

  1. Set Aside Some Ad Budget

Ad Budget

Only up to 3% of your page followers will see any of your posts organically. Means if you don’t sometimes promote or boost your posts – especially those that show potential with good organic engagement – that’s a lot of effort wasted. It has become a necessary evil to boost posts – enabling better reach, more exposure and higher engagement.

TIP: Pick a post that shows the best organic engagement and boost it. Start small, Facebook ads start from USD5 (roughly RM25) that can get your post seen by approximately 1,000 new sets of eyes, depending on your targeting. Make sure anything you boost has a clear call-to-action, so people are compelled to click-through.

This post could have been much longer if I went into every nitty-gritty detail of each of the must-haves. But I didn’t, because the key here is to start and fine-tune as you get into it.

I know, it’s a jungle out there and there are new social media marketing trends, shortcuts, cheat-sheets, all-knowing guides popping up almost everyday.

But these fundamentals but will set you on the right direction. Then add your own common sense, ingenuity and authenticity to make social selling second nature.

Why People Buy?

True, people buy to fill a need or want. But if that’s the only reason people buy, then the whole advertising industry might as well close shop and let it be overrun by sales people.

As a freelance copywriter, finding out what motivates people to purchase a particular product is crucial.

It allows me to target my message to the right audience, ensure relevant context and employ proper tone-of-voice.

GirlShopping
Although it may seem some people buy for no reason at all... think again!

Here are 10 reasons why people buy, aside from fulfilling a need or want. There are definitely more, but I’m just being a bit lazy today.

1. Pleasure
To feel good about themselves – luxury cars, jewelry, yachts and the like.

2. Appear Special
To be like someone else – Brad Pitt Tag Heuer or Aishwarya Rai Loreal anyone?

3. Indulgence
To reward themselves – that 2-week trip to Paris sounds nice right?

4. Peer Pressure
To belong, or be accepted – smoke this, you’ll feel like a man.

5. Emotional Need
To replace or substitute a loss – nobody loves me, but I love chocolates!

6. Great Bargain
To win – this lawnmower is too cheap, although I don’t need it.

7. Poser
To be hip, cool, awesome –  iPhone 5, Onitsuka Kicks, 3DTV… I want them all.

8. Obligation
To feel less guilty – awwww… that’s very thoughtful of you, now I got to get you a gift too!

9. Circumstances
To shut the sales dude up – okay fine, these glow-in-the-dark photo frames are exactly what I need.

10. Convenience
It’s easy – why cook when we can tapau, get food delivered or just walk to the nearest mamak?

One, Two, Many Coupons

They’re everywhere these days; those ridiculously low-priced coupon deals for everything from sumptuous 3-course meals to ‘spa treatments’ in dodgy parts of Kepong.

Value-for-money seems to be the favoured business model for many businesses nowadays. But how long before offering products and services on-the-cheap eventually becomes bad for business?

Discounts Galore
Coupon deals are great for consumers; but not so for businesses...

Yes, we all like bargains. But if the bargain does not live up to the intended expectations, most of us would rather pay slightly more the next time – be it for better quality or improved service.

Even if you are satisfied with a particular coupon deal; would you return to the same outlet and pay ‘regular’ price for the same thing? Which – if I may remind you – can be up to 70% more?

Highly unlikely.

If you’re a business, and thinking of jumping onto the coupon deals bandwagon to attract customers, consider these:

  1. Is it worth cheapening your brand or business by offering high discounts just to attract one-time-only customers?
  2. You might get a high influx of customers in a short period of time. Can you or your staff handle a flood of customers and serve them properly?
  3. You don’t usually make a profit, especially if you offer a high discount. Sometimes you won’t even break even. Seems like a pointless exercise.
  4. Don’t expect prolonged advertising mileage by offering coupon deals. The people who use coupons are bargain-hunters who forget you as soon as you go back to normal price.
  5. The non-bargain hunter customers (the ones that you really want as customers) will see you as desperate for business. Not the kind of image you want to portray.

So instead of ‘selling out’ your business to coupon deal sites, why not invest in promotions that are easy to create and implement. You get the kind of customers you want, and get to sell at the price you want.

You know who to talk to 😉

Selling is Everything

Most people think I go to work, write a few headlines and then scoot off to lunch only never to return until the next day. Come to think of it that would be nice; but we all know it doesn’t work that way.

So what it is that I do? I Sell.

Selling
If you don't sell, you don't get paid

But I’ve come to realise that I do not only sell products to consumers; but also sell advertising to clients. So to be able to sell, I need to be able to sell the idea to the client first before being given the go-ahead to sell products to the end consumer.

Sounds confusing? But here’s the kicker.

Before I can even think about selling anything, I first must sell the idea about selling an idea to a client to sell a product to a consumer to my partners first. And I haven’t even written a single line of copy yet.

So with all this selling going on, you tell me… Isn’t advertising fundamentally about selling? Or rather shouldn’t it be all about selling?

Every CEO thinks about how much money he is making as opposed to how wonderful his company’s advertising is, which may be the reason why you see lots of crappy (but often effective) ads out there.

So is there a way to balance a strong sales-driven message with compelling creative? Last I checked, it was called Direct Marketing.

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Know You, Like You, Trust You, Contact You & Refer You

That’s it isn’t it? The full circle of making a sale, and perhaps earn a few more leads at the end of it. No complicated marketing or advertising mumbo jumbo; just plain clear and simple.

It's a deal!

Whether you’re selling a product, writing copy, pitching for a new client or looking for a girl/boyfriend (minus Refer of course), these steps could help you close the deal or at least put you in the right path:

Know You

I remember in college when A.I.D.A. was drummed into my skull. Getting Attention, then creating Interest, which leads to Desire and ultimately Action in the form of a purchase. But for AIDA to work, the prospect must Know You or better still Like You.  Would you pay attention to someone you don’t know, no matter how hard he’s trying to get your attention? Even of you do, would you actually buy from him? So for a sale to happen, you must take the effort to introduce yourself to your prospects. And if they want to Know You more, then you begin to work on the next step.

Like You

Okay. Now your prospects know who you are. It’s time to develop the relationship and get them to Like You. Freebies are good, but not a great way as most prospects can see through your gimmick. You should instead begin to persuade them in a compelling manner with hard facts thrown in. Anticipate a problem that requires solving or a need that has to be filled. If a prospect likes what she’s hearing, she’ll most probably begin to Like You as well.

Trust You

Trust is a powerful influencing factor. You can get people to join a cause, divulge their innermost feelings, get into bed with you and of course, spend their money buying your product or service. But just because someone Likes You, doesn’t mean he or she Trusts You. Here’s where the saying “Seeing is Believing” comes into play. Any form of visual representation of your product or service in action could do wonders to alter your prospects perception. Testimonials or endorsements are also good, as others’ trusting behavior could lead your prospects by example.

Contact You

When someone, on their own accord gets in touch with you, then you’ve pretty much done the job. Your prospects may Contact You for a number of reasons: to enquire, take up an offer and hopefully to purchase. The ball is now at your court to live up to their expectation: either by solving a problem or fulfilling a need. No hard-sell is required at this stage (or any of the previous steps for that matter) as your prospect – believe it or not – Knows You, Likes You and Trusts You. Now, it’s all about turning your prospects into customers by giving them exactly what they want.

Refer You

This is the bonus round so to speak. You can do without it, but it will be such a waste. Because referrals are great for building trust. More often than not, you can skip the Know You, Like You and sometimes Trust You steps through referrals. If a satisfied customer passes the word to his friends about your wonderful product or service, then your job becomes so much easier. Peer to peer “word of mouth” is still the most effective form of advertising, nothing beats it, nothing ever will.

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