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  • Practical Marketing
  • About
  • Businesses We Serve
    • Healthcare >
      • Direct Primary Care Practices
      • Patient Satisfaction
    • Professional Services >
      • Client Satisfaction Surveys
    • Local Small Businesses >
      • Marketing Your New Business
      • Coaching
      • Customer Satisfaction
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Website Review
    • Name your new business eBook
    • Starting a new healthcare practice
    • Marketing your Business For Growth
    • Small Business Networking Groups
  • Client Listing and Recommendations

Marketing Tips for growing businesses

Seven Steps to Get More from Your Social Media Efforts

2/28/2017

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Social Media - it's everywhere!
Picture
Both large and small organizations use social media. Large companies are most visible and usually use multiple channels, but small businesses are active as well – in fact, over 41% of small businesses use Facebook to support their marketing efforts.

And no wonder -- social media can be used for both outgoing and inbound communications. Organizations can listen and monitor for customer service and public relations feedback as well as communicate and engage their target market.

But you may have noticed that some organizations get more out  of their efforts than others. Their audience likes, shares and comments more often, resulting in greater awareness and better connections.
 
What are the keys to these successful social media programs?

 1) Specific Goals
First, these organizations are not just "doing" social media. They start with objectives that are aligned with organizational goals and values.  Social media is often used to support specific objectives, like growing awareness for a new offering, communicating brand and organizational values, or supporting recruitment. 
 

2) Audience Knowledge
The program is built on knowledge of the target customer and what interests them.
  • Who they are – demographics, interests
  • Where they gather information
  • Who influences them
 Using this knowledge assists your social media program in creating content that offers your audience value, which leads us to #3.

3) Offers Value
Social media should include information and topics of interest to engage. Posting information that is entertaining, or that customers might not find elsewhere (like exclusive notices of sales or coupons), and encouraging interaction is key. These organizations think of social media as  a conversation with their followers rather than a sales announcement tool. With social media, you have to earn your following, so any sales messages have to be subtle and sprinkled through the other messages – less than 20% of the content. 
           
4) Prioritized Tactics
Successful social media programs take time and consistent effort to build a following. To maximize resources, efforts are focused on channels that appeal most to the target market and fit the organization’s content. They try to be where the potential market is, but don’t try to be everywhere!  Better to excel at two channels than have a scattered presence on five.
  • For example, a business that generates visual content and markets to primarily female consumers (like a florist or wedding venue) might focus on Pinterest and Instagram as primary channels. They might also post their pictures on Facebook, as it is still a great way to communicate with consumers, but due to changes in the algorithms, it's challenging to grow a Facebook page without a budget for ads.
 
5) Team Effort and Coordination
Coordination helps get the best out of social media. For small business as well as larger ones, a designated team and coordinated calendar are essential. Planning consistent messaging across platforms, knowing in advance of events and other initiatives, leveraging the following on one channel to point to content on another, and having a reliable source of fresh content are benefits of a well-coordinated team.
 

 6) Clear Guidelines
Many industries have regulations and restrictions on what can be made public. In addition, it is a good idea to have ground rules that employees may refer to when posting or re-posting/retweeting information about the organization. 
 
7) Measurements, Analysis and Adjustments
Success social media efforts are tracked and measured so they can be continually improved.  Simple measures like shares, likes, retweets and comments can indicate engagement.  A growing number of followers can indicate awareness.  Depending on the goals, there are other measures as well:
  • If you’re tweeting a link to a white paper or ebook, you can measure how many views to the landing page as in addition to the number of downloads. 
  • If your organization is sponsoring an event and offers discount tickets or a special code on social media, a goal can be set for a number of link clicks and redemptions. 

Great social media programs have their finger on the pulse of the audience and stakeholders. Feedback collected from customers and employees is used to refine the content and can be valuable to marketing and business growth decisions.

Thanks for reading!  How does your organization run their social media programs?  What have you found that works best? 


If you have questions or would like to explore team-based social media marketing, please contact us. 
 
 Image credit:   John Atkinson's Cartoons





Broad Reach Marketing helps professional practices and local businesses engage and retain customers with practical, effective branding, strategy and promotions.
We love to help good ideas and organizations grow!

Other articles you may find interesting: 
​
How to Make it Easier for Patients to Find Your Practice 

4 Tips for Protecting your Online Reputation​




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The Nitty Gritty Rebranding Checklist

2/1/2017

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This is the third and final blog in our series of three focusing on rebranding a business.
The first blog, “When is Rebranding the Answer?” concentrated on the questions to ask and situations where rebranding may be the strategically right thing to do for renewing or expanding your business.
The second, ” So You’ve Decided to Rebrand- What’s Next?” focuses on the process of researching and defining your new brand. 
Our final blog, "The Nitty Gritty Rebranding Check List" is just that - a tool developed to assist you as you go about your re-branding effort. 
  

   
                                 
The Rebranding Checklist

 
Phase I – Creation
 Complete your market research
Gain Feedback - Inputs from:
                         Critical Customers
                         Clients
                         Employees
                        Management
                        Key Stakeholders
Re-define your positioning
Gain Stakeholder Consensus on Re-Branding Profile
Finalize your new strategic direction:
                        Clear Vision Statement
                        Company Culture & Values Statement
                        Clear Marketplace Value Proposition
Finalize Creative Logo tag line and styles that represents the organization as defined above
 

 
Phase II – Internal Re-alignment
 Employee / Management Education and Consensus:
                       Why the new emphasis – What’s in it for the business and them
                       How it affects everyone behaviorally
                       How the change will be measured
 

 Phase III – Non Web-based Re-alignment
Marketing Collateral:
  • Brochures and Sell Sheets
  • Presentation / Video Templates
  • Printed Customer Appreciation Items
  • Partner / Membership Listings
  • Business Cards / Letterhead
  • Note cards
 Business Process & Internal Documentation:
  • Invoices, Estimates and Sales Order Templates
  • Phone Messaging 
Signage:
  • Office / Building
  • Billboards
  • Trade Show Equipment
  • Vehicles 
  • Uniforms
                                        
Phase IV – Web-based Re-alignment
  • Business Directories and Directions
  • Social Media Accounts
  • Partner Listings
  • Website Editing:
                        Content
                     Images
                     On-page SEO: Titles, Keywords, Meta Descriptions
                     RSS link
                     Analytics
                     Opt-in form for Email Newsletter

 
Phase V – External Notification
                                                                           Who to Contact              How to Contact
                        Customers
                        Clients
                        Vendors
                        Contractors
                        Regulatory Bodies
                        Others
 
Notification methods may include:
                        Written Notification (letters, forms etc)
                        Email
                        Social Media Announcements
                        Meetings

                           Launch Luncheons or Festivities
 
Thanks for reading! 


Contact us for a free copy of this checklist (spreadsheet format).
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