On Friday, I had the opportunity to speak at a SkinMedica conference in New York City. The intent was to teach and train their customers how to use social media, email marketing, and content marketing to grow their sales and revenues.
We discussed a lot of topics, including how to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaigns (which I wrote extensively about in this blog post on the 60 Second Marketer website).
I closed the speech with 10 techniques the audience could use to supercharge their social, email, and content marketing campaigns. I thought I’d share them with you here so that you could quickly refresh your memory on some of the topics we cover regularly on the 60 Second Marketer.
Here goes:
Many of us use an old-school approach to marketing called the Four P’s. (The Four P’s are Price, Product, Place, and Promotion.) But when we start out by thinking about our product first, we lose sight of our most important constituent – our customers.
As such, I’m always encouraging people to think backwards. In other words, start with your customers needs and desires first, then work your way backwards to your product. By doing so, you’ll have much better results with your campaign.
You won’t go to jail for stealing good social, email, and content ideas from our competitors. The fact is, they probably have some good ideas that they’re using, so follow them closely, then steal or borrow their best ideas for your own business. And don’t just steal from direct competitors – watch what the Fortune 500 are doing and steal from them, too!
By now, you’re probably using social media on a regular basis. But are you staying up to date on the newest tools? Have you used Instagram? Snapchat? Periscope? Meerkat? If not, check them out so you can stay current on the latest tools and platforms.
When developing content for your blog, make sure you’re focusing on tips and techniques that your prospects and customers will find useful. As tempting as it is to write a blog post about your Holiday party, your audience will tune you out if you do so. Stick to topics and posts that solve a problem for your prospects and customers. That way, they’ll be sure to come back for more.
Let’s get something straight – the days of uploading a poorly-written post and getting a lot of social shares are over. Today, in order to get attention, you either have to be hyper-focused on a very narrow niche (as Jon Loomer does with his blog that primarily focuses on Facebook analytics and advertising), or you have to have a particular perspective that your audience is looking for (as Seth Godin does on his blog).
Amateurs share their content on an irregular basis. The pros share their content on a regular basis. Are you an amateur? Or are you a pro?
You’ve got a lot on your plate already, so it’s often worth investing in a social media optimization tool. I’ve found Agorapulse and Oktopost to be incredibly useful tools. Hootsuite is a good alternative, but not as good as Agorapulse or Oktopost.
AWeber and Act-On are both sponsors of the 60 Second Marketer site, so I may be biased, but I was working with both companies before they ever became sponsors. Why? Because they’re both considered the gold standard in each of their categories. For an elegant, sophisticated email marketing tool, check out AWeber. If you have a larger organization that’s interested in marketing automation (email marketing’s distant cousin), then check out Act-On.
The only way to tell if your social, email, or content marketing campaign is working is by testing your way to success. How does that work? It’s simple — define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and track the results over time. KPIs for many of your campaigns will include views (or opens), clicks, engagement (time on page), downloads (of white papers or eBooks), and conversion rate (sales).
The biggest mistake I see people make when it comes to social, email, or content marketing is that they expect bigger and quicker results than the platforms can actually provide. A good campaign, whether it’s social, email, or content, will take time and effort to produce results. In addition, it should be part of an integrated campaign that includes other elements like paid search, mobile advertising, online display and other tactics.
Does all this make sense to you? I know it makes sense to me, so it you have any questions, feel free to submit them in the comments section below and I’ll respond.
Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and 60 Second Communications, an Atlanta-based marketing agency that works with national and international brands. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe. Subscribe to The Jamie Turner Show podcast by visiting iTunes or Stitcher.