If you own your own small business, it’s likely you’ve at least heard of social media marketing as it is a cost effective way to promote your business

For one, nearly everyone has some type of social media account whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or something else. Additionally, is it’s free to get started. If you are already familiar with these social platforms, getting involved with social media marketing may seem like an easy prospect, however it can be more challenging than you’d think. Here are five things every business owner should know about social media marketing.

Have social media goals or KPIs

Keep in mind, you can’t measure your success if you don’t have goals in the first place. You might be surprised at how many business owners start a Facebook page for their business simply because it’s what they think they’re supposed to do. While it is a good idea, it won’t be successful if they haven’t thought about what they want to accomplish with each platform or have key performance indicators.

Different social media platforms have different advantages and disadvantages. Demographics have their own behavior on each platform, each one attracts different content and audiences–be mindful of those and the content best recognized on each Think about what your goals are with your social media marketing and plan accordingly.

Know your solution

Certain products are harder to sell than others. If you’ve got a product or service that doesn’t sell itself, you may need to get creative with your social media marketing in order to drive consumer interest in it. The most important thing with social media marketing is that you are consistently providing consumers with engaging content. As long as you’re doing that, people will be talking about your business no matter what you’re selling.

Know the medium

This comes down to being familiar with the social media platform(s) you choose to work with. Each has it’s inherent strengths and weaknesses. Pinterest for example is very image based. It’s ideal for businesses that really want to promote themselves with photos. Twitter on the other takes a less-is-more approach. It’s text based and you’re limited by character count. Facebook is somewhere in between. Whichever you choose, you need to know your medium well and know what works and what doesn’t within that medium.

Know your target

You might think that as a business owner, your target is pretty much everybody. The problem with targeting everybody though is that you’ll end up targeting nobody, and overspend in the process. In order for any social media marketing efforts to be successful, you need to have a clear idea of who your target audience is. Then you need to know as much as possible about them. Find out what drives them, what their likes and dislikes are. You can never know enough about your target audience.

Know how to maximize efforts

It’s no longer enough to post once or twice a week. Even if you’re posting every hour the only people that are seeing it are those who’ve “liked” or “followed” your business’s page. To really maximize your efforts, you need to find ways to get your fans on social media to spread the word for you. Offer incentives and get people talking about you online and you’re on your way to social media marketing success.

Source:  Mobile Marketing Watch