Benefits of Social Media Marketing | Wieting Design

6 Tips for Marketing in 2017

December 1, 2016 by Cindy Wieting

Have you started planning for your 2017 marketing goals? A successful marketing plan is based on what you did in 2016—what worked and what didn’t—and what you want to make sure you do again. If you want to see greater marketing results next year, it’s time to create a plan to grow your business starting January 1st.

Budget for Marketing

Your budget should account for web design updates, SEO building, social media marketing, as well as print marketing like mailings and flyers. Look at what worked in 2016 and where you would like to spend additional resources. Which of your marketing channels is bringing you prospects that convert? Don’t look just at those who eventually buy from you. Dig into the nitty-gritty: which channel brings you the most new visitors? Which channel brings you actual buyers? Which one has you enjoying multiple visits from the same person?

Update your Ideal customer Profile

Looking at your 2016 sales and your customers, can you group them together by similar characteristics? If you’re in the business of lawn care your ideal customer profile may look similar to this:

Middle aged homemakers
Suburban middle class
Residential properties with property between 4,000 – 7,000 square feet
Areas with median income of $60k – $120k
White collar families
Families without teenage children

By Identifying your ideal customer, you know who to tailor your marketing towards. You’ll see a better return on investment because a potential customer matching these characteristics is more likely to buy your services.

Map Out your Buy Cycle

Very few sales happen on the first introduction. Reverse engineer your sales process by starting with the final sale and working backwards. Anticipate any questions or objections a customer may have and use these answers to create content that solves these obstacles. What will motivate your buyer? What problem are you solving for them? Once you’ve mapped out your buy cycle and built credibility and trust, create a “Call-to-Action” to lead your customer through the sales process.

Review and Revise your Website and Online Marketing

Is your website encouraging visitors to connect with you and buy? Is it too salesy?

Is your social media marketing asking users to take the next step with you?

Are you only promoting “Buy Now” or are you engaging with your followers too?

Is your website optimized for local search results?

Take a look at your website statistics on Google Analytics. Where are your customers going on your site, how long are they engaged, and what type of bounce rate are you seeing? Update your social media channels to make sure they’re designed to attract and educate your ideal customer and your branding is consistent and compelling.

Maximize your Existing Reach

Your current customers are your greatest asset. They’ve already purchased from you and if nurtured will likely continue to do so. Have you asked for a review, referral, or a follow on social media? Have you considered a referral program for your current customers?

Measure your Success

Regardless of which marketing platforms you are using, whether it’s your website or Facebook Ad campaigns, make sure you have defined metrics for measuring success. Set up regular meetings to review progress and evolve your tactics as needed to hit your marketing goals.

There’s a lot of work to do be done to prepare for your 2017 marketing, and it can be tough to be objective about your own company when you’re so close to it. If you still have questions about how to prioritize, how to get it all done, or how much it will cost, we can help.

Give us a call at 203 414 9692 to schedule your 2017 Marketing Plan Consultation.

Make sure to come back next week to find out how marketing trends are going to change in 2017—and how you can prepare accordingly.

Tips for Getting Twitter Followers

April 8, 2016 by Cindy Wieting

Many of my clients are just getting into Twitter and realizing the value it has to business. Many have asked how do I get followers? Well, it takes patience. But here are 8 quick simple things to get you started and get followers.

Choose a profile name.

This is the name you’ll be known as on Twitter. You should always use your real name or business name.

Write a good solid profile, and take the time to brand Twitter so you build consistency.

Make sure you have a high-resolution photo for your profile picture don’t use a logo, people will want to connect with you on a personal level. Use a some creative in your Twitter header that is relevant to your business. You don’t want to come across as a spammer. There are thousands of spammers on Twitter and you can usually tell because they never creat their profile correctly.

Create a short informative bio about your company.

When people are deciding they want to follow you, they will scan your Twitter bio to see if it’s relevant to their business. A good formula to use is to state your business, services you offer, areas of expertise and put in your website.

Don’t over Tweet, but Tweet consistently

Being consistent will engage your followers and attract new followers because no one will want to follow someone who tweeted 8 weeks ago. Try tweeting things like product launches, new announcements, latest news relevant to your business, photos, blog posts, and so on. If there’s not much to tweet don’t force it. And don’t be a person who keeps retweeting all the time, it will show that you really have nothing to offer, and you won’t get followers. I say if you having to tweet of interest don’t. A day or two won’t matter if you don’t tweet.

Tweet with relevant hashtags

A hashtag is a type of label or metadata tag used on social network and microblogging services which makes it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content. Users create and use hashtags by placing the hash character # in front of a word. Searching for that hashtag will then present each message that has been tagged with it. By using a hash tag with your tweets, you are making it easier for someone to find out information and find you!

Spread your Twitter URL

Advertise your Twitter account through your Facebook page, email signatures, website and any marketing material you have.

Retweet others

A retweet is a repost or a forward that you can share with your followers. When you retweet other people’s tweets, they get notified and will most likely follow you as a sign of thanks. Retweeting other posts shows your interested in what your follows are saying and sharing it with others says “you want your follows to be aware of this person as they have good solid information. But again don’t overdue it.

Follow relevant people

One of the quickest ways to start getting more Twitter followers is to follow others. This lets people know you exist. Follow people you can learn from and follow people who have interesting and funny things to say. Don’t follow hundreds of people before you start getting followers yourself. Building a large Twitter follower community takes time so be patient and be smart.

Educate your followers

Tweet something you’d be interested about if you saw it. Offer your followers engaging content that they can be excited about and learn about. No one will want to follow a brand that constantly tweets promotions about themselves.

So those are some simple tips if you decide to engage with Twitter! Thanks for reading and hopes this helps those of you who are just getting started.

AND OPTIMIZE!

Social Media: What Does it Really Do for Your Business?

December 28, 2014 by Cindy Wieting

At one time, many business owners believed that social media was just another fad. Today, social media is one of the top activities on the Web. In fact, the average social user spends more than 30 minutes a day on a social media site. It is no longer up for debate – social media is very important for business. If you’re still not convinced, here’s what social media can do for your business:

Increases traffic if targeted to the right audience.
Captures the attention of new customers and improves brand visibility.
Cost-effective when compared to traditional forms of advertising (i.e. print ads, direct mail, billboard ads, cable television, etc.).
Gives you the opportunity to build a review profile from satisfied customers.
Allows you to improve customer service and offers real-time feedback. You can utilize this feedback to make improvements to your business.
Increases customer loyalty, according to a study conducted by Texas Tech University. The study concluded that businesses should take advantage of social media tools when connecting with their target audience – this will help increase engagement.
Gives you the opportunity to convert potential leads into customers.
Builds stronger customer relationships. Social media allows you to instantly interact with your customer. For instance, let’s say that a customer posts a complaint about your product or service on Facebook, you can respond and resolve the issue right away. By doing this, you’re showing customers that you’re prompt when it comes to responding to their needs. Responding promptly to feedback (whether negative or positive) shows that you genuinely care about your customers.
Offers a great way to distribute content. According to AOL and Nielsen, people spend over 50% of their time on the Internet reading or watching video content. Approximately, 30% of this time is spent on social media sites where people share the content they like the most.
Provides good search engine rankings. It is said that when you maintain a solid social media presence, it lets the search engines know that you have a credible brand. As a result, you’re more than likely to experience an increase in traffic to your website.

The above are just a handful of benefits of using social media for your business. It is important to know that in order for social media to work well, it must be done the right way. Hiring a professional social media consultant who can think strategically, when it comes to creating a social media campaign, will ensure you experience successful results.

Just like SEO and other forms of Internet marketing, social media takes time before you begin to reap the benefits from your efforts. However, if you can invest at least 45 minutes to 1 hour a day in social media ‘consistently’ you will begin to notice results.

Tip: The key to success with social media is to be engaging. Engagement is the main ingredient to building long-term business relationships with your followers.

Do you need professional assistance with developing a social media campaign for your business? Feel free to contact a cindy@wietingdesign.com or give us a call at: 203.259.8913.

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