Follow
Or the necessity of social media to get known
Any company wishing to be known has to have a marketing plan. But what to do when you want to get people to discover your company, but the budget is limited or almost absent? Investing in social marketing.
In 2016, if you have a business in Québec and you’re not on social media, you do not exist. In fact, if your target audience is under 40, you must be present on social media. But how to choose where? And how to successfully reach your audience?
Of course, there is Facebook. This platform is used by most, in Quebec. But there is a big difference between being on Facebook, and get or retain customers through Facebook. Then there are the other social media, you may not be familiar or where you may not be. But each social network has its own characteristics and its own public.
Social media are free. At least, being there is free. Although, if you want to be able to have a successful social marketing, there are two things you have to do: be effective and be present. To achieve this, there are two possibilities. You can either invest in training to ensure that you know how to maximize your effectiveness on the selected social networks and invest your time (sometimes a lot of time), or invest in a team that will be able to maximize your presence on various social platforms.
How to make its presence in social media efficient
The first thing to do is to choose on which social media your presence will be the most effective. We often tend to embark on social media by choosing what we know rather than go based on what a social network has to offer. For example, Twitter offers a beautiful space for a company that works in the event management. Perhaps this is less relevant for a construction company.
Then, once the platforms are chosen, it is important to ensure that the profile is created optimally. Certain information is needed, others are important and some should be kept to yourself. We tend to minimize the importance of the creation of the page or company profile. This is partly through that information that users can find your business.
Now that you are present on one or more social platform, you have to create relevant content, and that on a regular basis. Too often we see companies creating a LinkedIn page and never publish anything. It therefore becomes one of many pages that nobody will ever hear about. Especially for people who do not already know the company. Each social network at their own pace. For some, you have to publish every day. For others, it is more appropriate to publish 2 or 3 times a week. Although, what each platform has in common is that you must be relevant and creative at the same time. There it becomes even more interesting to hire someone who specializes in content creation.
Is the investment worth it?
Everything is a matter of “how much”… The real question, in fact, is how much you intend to invest in promotion and
advertising. You have to see social media as part of your promotional effort. Did you intend to invest in printed 
advertisement? $ 500 for it? Think again. Is printed ads going to earn you more than a presence on Facebook or Twitter? Maybe invest $ 550 to hire a company that will manage your page will bring you more customers. Of course, all companies do not charge the same rate. And engaging an in-house employee cost even more.
How much could cost this kind of service? An internal resource could cost between $ 35,000 and $ 50,000 per year. Obviously, this person would be closer and could better know your company and its various products. But, it is a big investment. All companies do not have that kind of budget. The option to hire a company specializing in social media management therefore makes much sense. But, you should take the time to shop around a bit. Each company has its own costs and each does not necessarily offer all the same services. But if I want to give a broad approximation of the kind of investment expected for this type of service, I would say you may think investing between $ 500 and $ 10,000 per year.
Either way, take the time to think before you start in order to make the best decision for your business.
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Specialist in digital communication and international cinema, videographer, photographer and creator of content of all kinds.