Social Media Marketing for Illinois

Learn the tips and tricks to developing a good Social Media Marketing Strategy. Being successful in today's online business world requires marketers to leverage social media marketing, in order to get the most out of their Internet advertising efforts statewide in Illinois.

Creating a working Social Media Marketing Strategy is still a challenge for most businesses. This explains why they keep researching on effective social media marketing tips, hoping to get answers. So if you're one of them, and you feel that it's time to get real insights into the world of Internet marketing strategies, it's time to get back to the drawing board -- this time, with a new approach. The fact is, consumer behavior and expectations have changed.

Internet advertising is now characterized by more of search engine marketing as well as social media advertising. Without social media networks, there is little Internet advertising, small business advertising, or content marketing. According to Lee Odden's article on the Essentials to Integrating SEO & Social Media, effective Internet marketing solely relies on the searcher behavior and how their expectations have evolved in search and social media experience.

And seeing that the Internet is now being estimated to host an additional 27 million pieces of content each day, it's extremely difficult to achieve the kind of visibility that brings a profit. According to content marketing expert Mark Schaefer (in his Content Shock Article), he describes this evolution as exponentially increasing volume of content that has already surpassed the ability of the human reader to consume it.

Now the big question is, how do you get found online when competition is that fierce? These 4 Social Media Marketing tips will help you achieve a Social Media Marketing Strategy For Success!

#1 Identify Social Media Goals & Objectives for Illinois

A good Internet Marketing Strategy uses the S.M.A.R.T principle to establish goals. This means to be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and also Time-accountable. As it is, goals should be established to help businesses in Illinois gauge their success and ROI.

However, focus more on goals that are helpful to your profit margin. Only goals that focus on superior metrics will help a business gauge how well their Social Marketing Strategies are working.

Traffic referred and leads generated are what expert Internet marketers call superior metrics. These are not similar to social media likes, retweets, or comments that only make you feel good and do nothing more.

The goal of any social media marketing strategy is to increase brand awareness by retaining customers while still keeping marketing costs low.

Therefore, when setting goals, focus on achieving a few goals first. It's recommended to have two primary goals and two secondary goals to work with. This way, you will have an easy time managing social media campaigns that aren't performing as expected.

#2 Focus On The Right Social Networks For Your Illinois Business

According to research conducted by Red Frog SEO, the fact that a Social Media Platform may have a large user-base, doesn't mean it's effective to all businesses in Illinois. And because of this, marketers should only work with social media networks that are relevant to their business and the consumers they target (See Sprout Socials 7 Steps to Creating a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy).

Again, because every social media site has its strengths and weaknesses, marketers should only choose a network after they've analyzed it carefully, and have determined that it's where their audience is hanging out. Avoid wasting time and resources marketing to the wrong consumer.

The following are Social Media networks and resources commonly used for marketing purposes. Use them according to the Social Media Marketing Tips highlighted below to stay ahead of the pack.

Top Social Media Marketing Platforms

Facebook: No doubt, Facebook is the largest social network that caters for all demographics. However, there are right and wrong ways of using it. Follow this guide from Social Media Examiner to learn how to get the most out of this social network. Again, the site has incorporated a few sophisticated ways of marketing using their platform so you can get good results. You only need to learn and test them until you figure out what works for you.

Twitter: Twitter has a unique language and style that you can use to get the most out of it. What makes it stand out from other social platforms is the fact that they support a vast array of third-party and analytics tools not possible to use with Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. According to Twitter marketing secrets on Social Bro, marketers can use hashtag research tools to get real-time alerts the moments certain keywords are mentioned. Furthermore, these tools also let marketers figure out the best time to tweet so they can reach out to most of their Illinois audience, thanks to the site's advanced search features which make work a lot easier.

Instagram: Instagram was acquired by Facebook some time ago, and now the picture/video-rich social network has experienced immense growth, catering for close to 300 million users worldwide. Instagram has 70 million photos and images posted daily, and another 30 billion photos shared each day. To get the most out of it, use relevant hashtags and captions to your advantage as seen in this Instagram Strategic Guide. Also, don't forget to interact with other industry users who post content relevant to you.

LinkedIn: Being a b2b professional social network, you can expect to get the most out of it. It's for the people who are interested in establishing career connections and taking part in industry discussion. However, learning to market your business on LinkedIn, according to these guidelines, requires that you develop a solid profile. This way, you will have an easy time establishing your brand presence.

Pinterest: The idea of Pinterest was to come up with a social platform that served users like a digital bulletin board. This social network, when optimized according to this guide can bring a huge following and a substantial source of income. The secret is to learn how to use the pins and boards when marketing to your intended audience. This way, you'll boost your visibility and engagement as well.

#3 Create a Content Plan and Strategy to Attract Illinois Customers

A good Content Marketing Plan for your social media networks should outline the key things you hope to achieve in both short and long term period. In other words, you'll want to audit the status of your social media accounts, both at present and in the near future.

Now, the first step is to optimize your social profile to gain more Internet traffic. An editorial calendar for social media posting can help you figure out the correct time and frequency of posting content.

The next step is to make sure that your content is engaging and also sharable. This is achieved through incorporating images, videos, useful infographics, contests and many more.

Also, try to speak to the buyer's persona. You want to speak their language so they can be prompted to buy from you for the first time. The aim is to find and keep those prospective consumers for future business dealings. But first, you need to understand them.

Another critical step in creating an effective social media marketing strategy is that which takes your competition into account. Essentially, you'll need to research your competition in Illinois to see what they're up to. Tools such as Rival IQ now make your work easier by analyzing and reporting on what your Illinois competitors are doing.

Also, industry influencers are an indispensable tool to utilize. They're everywhere on the Internet. Curate their content and give credit where it's due. Try capitalizing on your interaction with them. That's how you'll reach your local customers.

#4 Evaluate, Track and Improve Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

Until you complete the three steps above, you won't likely be able to analyze and improve on your existing social media marketing strategy. So at this point, we're assuming you've successfully undergone the steps above, and now your only task is to continually test your marketing model. One important tool for your marketing is Google Analytics. This can be used to track individual pages viewed by targeted visitors.

Once you've tested your marketing model and identified all your successes and failures, it's time to review your social media marketing plan so as to seal any existing loopholes.

Sprout Social has a special tool designed for tracking your progress. This tool presents a dynamic analysis and report on social media data; thus being enabled to digest and use that information accordingly.

And since new social networks are emerging, your existing Internet advertising plan for social media must also evolve and adjust accordingly. After all, an effective social media marketing strategy is supposed to be flexible.

According to an article published by James Scherer on How to Optimize Your Social Media Content to fight "content shock," one would do well re-using their content wisely rather than spending their entire life trying to create content that would shine like the rays of the sun.

Social Media Marketing Services for Illinois Businesses

However, with all this, it may sound too overwhelming trying to get all the things discussed here right. But the fact is, it's never too late to get help from seasoned Internet marketing experts at Red Frog SEO.

Red Frog SEO has specialized in SEO Services, Web Development, Local Business Marketing and many other fields related to Online Advertising. What's more, Red Frog SEO helps marketers leverage popular social media networks to their advantage, thus helping them keep advertisement costs low.

However, as an Internet marketer in Illinois who wants success, it also takes some effort from your side too. Make that first critical step by contacting Red Frog SEO so you can have your business optimized for a solid web presence.

Call 4358999997 to be guided in all aspects related to social media and small business marketing!

View the Social Media Marketing Strategy PDF