Small business and entrepreneurial success can be a steep and slippery road. Risk is everywhere. Social media has become a presence that is not going to fade away into the sunset. It is here to stay and small businesses and entrepreneurs everywhere must learn to harness this marketing potential.
It can be a bit intimidating to anyone. Where to start? What to do? Just keep in mind a basic mantra for your social media marketing campaign. Your social media marketing is designed for one purpose only and that is to drive traffic to your website. Your website, in turn, exists for one reason and one reason only and that is to convert that traffic to sales. Seems rather simple in theory but can be quite another in execution.
- Start simply. Choose one of the major social media sites and begin to craft a campaign specifically design to succeed at that particular sites. Eventually, you will want to establish marketing campaigns at the major sites which will include: Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Instagram and Pinterest. Do your due diligence on every site. They are not the same and cannot be treated as such. For instance, did you know that Pinterest is over 90% female?
- This cannot be a slapdash affair. You cannot dabble in social media. You must attack with a specific plan and timeline or you will just be wasting valuable time and money. The first consideration is, are you going to do this yourself or will you dedicate someone, or possibly a team, to it? Again, this is not some part time venture that you can at 5AM. It would be prudent to have a person or a team dedicated to your social media marketing.
- Your goals need to be determined. It can be a combination of proven strategies that continue to drive traffic from each site. Know what those strategies are and set out a plan to execute them. This is a rather casual and personal environment. Stuffy and traditional ads will unlikely work out there. The personal touch always generates the most opportunities.
- Finally, when you are just beginning, take some lessons from those that are already successful out there. The master motivator, writer, and teacher Anthony Robbins once recalled how he started out. He said that he looked at the people who were where he wanted to be and just did everything they did to get there.
Social media marketing can be a risk but you are already well adapted to that. You must be out there to survive and grow. You no longer have a choice. Attend to your due diligence, construct a plan, execute that plan, and watch that bottom line swell.
