In July 2020, Social Butterfly Social Media Management Services happily welcomed Lisa Pettinelli, Social Media Content Specialist and Account Manager. Lisa brings a wealth of expertise to our growing team.
Lisa’s background spans both traditional and digital marketing. She’s a pro when it comes to marketing strategy and implementing initiatives across platforms. Lisa’s expertise positions our clients to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness, and increase sales. I caught up with her to learn more about what Lisa’s approach means for our clients.
Social media as a business tool
EHM: What would you say to a client who thinks social media marketing seems a bit unsophisticated or overly casual when it comes to reaching their customer base, especially if their clients are senior citizens, middle-age home buyers, or another consistency that may seem less inclined to consult social media when making business decisions?
LP: An estimated 69% of Americans use social media. It’s an opportunity to build relationships, tell your story, strengthen your brand, and teach the audience to value dealing with you. However, when posting, we must pay attention to tone. Each social platform is different:
LinkedIn is a social network for professionals. Instead of just following someone, you are encouraged to build connections more strategically. Think of your connections as business associates and less as friends. The tone is professional.
Facebook connects over one billion people throughout the world. You have Facebook “friends” you follow and view their posts in a timeline feed. You can react to posts with a written response, an emoji, or just a basic “like” with a thumbs up. The tone is casual and conversational.
Instagram is used and viewed on mobile phones. Posts are either photos or videos. Insta-stories or “stories” are a way to go live or post recorded videos and have them highlighted at the top of follower’s feed. The tone is also casual and conversational. Instagram can be lighthearted and professional at the same time.
Twitter is where users interact primarily through real-time messages called tweets. The tone is professional, helpful, and conversational.
Social Media = Marketing Powerhouse
EHM: What makes social media powerful for businesses? Why is it an important marketing tool?
LP: Social media is a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach your target audience. It’s ideal for brands to connect, engage, and grow business. Depending on your business goals, a social marketing strategy can:
· Increase brand awareness. Nearly half of the world’s population is using social media platforms. Social is a prominent place to reach new and highly targeted potential customers to build your brand.
· Establish your brand as a thought leader. No matter what industry your business is in, social media offers the opportunity to establish your brand as the go-to source for information related to your niche.
· Keep your brand top of mind. With most social media users logging into their accounts multiple times per day, social media allows brands to connect with fans and followers every time they log in.
· Increase website traffic. Posts and social ads are key ways to drive traffic to your websites. Sharing great content from blogs or websites on social is also a great way to grab readers’ attention.
· Generate leads. Social media offers an easy and low-commitment way for potential customers to express interest in your business and products. Many social networks offer advertising formats specifically designed to collect leads.
· Boost sales. Social networks have become increasingly important for product search and e-commerce. No matter what you sell, social media can help you sell it.
Forge your strategy
EHM: What are the elements of a strong social media marketing strategy?
LP: Create audience personas. Know who your audience is, their challenges, and pain points. Take an in-depth look at their demographics, including their interests, needs, fears, and behaviors. Then create your audience personas, which will help you choose the social platforms to focus on.
Set goals and objectives. The top goals for most social media programs are:
o Building brand awareness
o Generating website traffic
o Generating leads
Create a budget. With your goals set, you’ll need to determine how much money you can allocate to your social media strategy. Many small businesses have limited budgets, but you’ll need enough funds to invest in:
o Campaign content
o Paid social promotions
o Social media engagement tools
o Analytical tools
Internal Team vs. Outsourced Team. Securing enough internal resources to plan and execute a social media strategy is difficult for most businesses, no matter their size. You’ll need to determine if your internal staff has the time to manage the plan or if you’ll outsource the work. Either way, it’s a big task developing campaigns that speak to your target audience.
Goal-getting
EHM: What do you think clients need to know or keep in mind about social media marketing? How does it help them to accomplish their goals?
LP: Social media marketing isn’t all about brand awareness. It helps improve sales, which is why it’s essential to integrate social media marketing into your broader digital marketing strategy to get the most out of it. When social media marketing is combined with search engine optimization, pay per click advertising, content marketing, and email marketing, leads are nurtured and moved more effectively through the sales funnel.
A measure of success
EHM: How can clients gauge/measure their success when it comes to their social media marketing efforts?
LP: It’s always challenging to prove success. However, with social media tracking and analytics tools, you can see the full impact of social media activities, from followers to engagements right through to purchases.
Insta-power
EHM: What is your favorite social media platform, and why?
LP: My favorite social media platform is Instagram because:
· It features the highest quality content out of any social network.
· I love the platform’s simplicity. It’s not a difficult platform to understand or use, and it has a very minimalistic layout.
· With Instagram, I control what I would like to see.
· It’s more private. When I get tagged in or like a photo on Instagram, it will not show up on anyone else’s newsfeed.
· Posting to Instagram stories is fun! I love being creative with Instagram’s tools.
Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your expertise!