Still Wondering How to Get Started in Social Media in 2016?

It is sometimes hard to imagine this for many marketers, but there really are people who are not yet using social media marketing for their business, or who could use a good refresher on how to use it well.

Social media has gone from a check the boxes exercise to a critical component that is fully integrated into marketing campaigns and other business activities. If you are not fully immersed in social media marketing for your business, or you are and you want to help an executive understand the importance of what you do, the Guide to Social Media Marketing can break that down.

Perhaps you are not active on social media yourself. Therefore, it may be hard to wrap your arms around using it for business purposes. That makes sense, but 2.307 billion people globally are active social media users. That number was reported in January 2016. And it's still growing.

There is a big difference between connecting with friends and family on social media and using it for business. Posting and engaging with customers and prospects is not like re-kindling that old high school flame.

The first thing to know is that it is very easy to get caught up in the vanity metrics of social media networks like how many people like your posts on Facebook or how many followers you have on Twitter. While you definitely want to build an audience on these channels, you need to have real goals for these efforts. Start by looking at your business goals. If you are looking to drive leads for a B2B company, online sales for a B2C company, or store traffic for a retail establishment, you do the same thing with social media. And don't forget about building an email list.

Again, engagement and audience building is important, but your overall goals need to align with the rest of your company. This way, when you succeed, it is done in the same context as others in the marketing department.

Let Modern Mark explain how social media marketing plays a role in his marketing stack.

 

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Here's the help you need to understand the basics of social media marketing. And you don't even have to tell us that you are downloading The Guide to Social Media Marketing for a friend.