You already know that having a social media presence online is vital to your business. But how can you reach those millions of potential clients and customers? There are many choices out there, which can seem overwhelming. Developing a plan for your business will help engage with these potential clients and further grow your business. Here are eight social media marketing tips that will help get you there:

1. Create a Plan

Just like throwing a great party, you can’t have social media success without a plan. Consider what your goals are and who your target market is. This will help make it easier when finding and researching content to attract your audience.

So, what should you ask yourself before you begin your search?

• What do you hope to achieve through social media marketing?

• Who is your preferred target market?

• Does your target market use social media?

• Which platforms do they use?

By answering these questions it will help define a better plan of action from the start.

2. Do a Social Media Audit

How well has your previous social media campaigns been preforming? If you’re not sure, you might want to take a look. Preform an audit of your current social media presence. The results will help you find out what your customers and clients are looking for online. For example, you may find that the majority of your market are young men who enjoy sports. Incorporating this into your social media plan will help attract that market.

3. Choosing a Social Media Platform

There are so many different platforms! I get asked constantly about SnapChat, Instagram and Tumblr. Although they all may show, and share photos and videos, they are all used for different purposes. The type of platform you want depends on the type of objective you want for your audience. If your business is e-commerce or travel, they're very visually oriented and thus need platforms that can showcase graphics and photos, like Pinterest, Instagram and Google+.

4. Schedule & Save Time

Creating and posting a social media campaign can be time consuming. Set up a batch of posts a head of time and choose the best days/times to schedule the publishing of each. There are some great social media management tools out there as well and I personally use Hootsuite.com. Other popular tools are: Buffer, Social Booster and Sprout Social.

5. Target with Statistics

Social media statistics like Google Analytics not only help you create strong content, but you can see how your audience is finding you and which platform they visit most.

6. Writing a Blog

Have something to say? Write it out! It is vital for companies to have a blog on their company’s website. Blogs help drive web domain in search results and provide a platform to share company’s news and content.

7. Social Media Calendar

Keep your content organized so you have easy access to information you want to share. I use the Pinterest boards to organize articles, photos, tweets and anything else I want to save for a rainy day.

8. SEO and LinkedIn

Use your LinkedIn profile’s keywords in your website SEO to make it easier for other businesses and industries to find you.

These 8 steps will help with not only the growth of your social media but also your business.

For more information on this or other marketing topics, contact me at sharon@saltyreddogmarketing.com or call (203) 429-9671.

Salty Red Dog Marketing, LLC is a marketing agency in Darien, CT & NYC. We service businesses with marketing strategies, social media and consultations.

Contact: info@saltyreddogmarketing.com