Introduction
Marketing and advertising are essential factors in a business’s growth. One of the most increasingly important strategies is social media marketing. Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic through social media sites.
For a company or individual, social media marketing efforts will usually center on the creation of content that will attract attention to the business’s products and services.
This content will be spread to others by your readers and customers as opposed to direct marketing efforts, which is a more limiting marketing method. As a business owner, you may not have enough time or experience to do the social media marketing yourself, so considering a professional social media consultant can help you achieve success with your brand identity.
Social Media Consultant
A social media consultant is someone who can implement, optimize, and build your online presence and social media efforts in a structured way that will not only achieve visibility, but lead to tangible results i.e. sales.
Social media consultants usually specialize in a particular brand or product in order to achieve the best possible results. Along with helping your business, social media consultants can also enhance your marketing team’s work quality and bring new ideas to the team.
What a Social Media Consultant Can Do For You
1) Analyzing Business Data
Using such tools as Google analytics, a consultant should be able to see how engaged your audience is. They would then be in a position to tell you what you’re doing right or wrong and provide the solutions that are necessary for you to grow your presence.
2) Creating a Social Media Policy Tailored To Your Brand
Depending on what brand you are promoting or selling, a specialist should be able to let you know which platforms would be or wouldn’t be effective for your business. For example, a clothing brand would find that engaging on a platform, such as Polyvore, is necessary while a platform, such as Café Mom, is unnecessary.
3) Integrating Your Content
All the content on the web that relates to your business should intertwine and lead to your website. This means that any accounts, blog posts, tweets or pictures should be structured in such a way that the user eventually ends up on your website.
4) Mapping Out a Strategy
A consultant should be able to provide you with a clearly defined plan on how to build your social media presence as well as give you advice on how to sustain the growth that they will help you achieve.
5) Always Updated On Latest Trends And Predicts Future Trends
A social media specialist understands the ever-changing Internet trends, whether users are flocking to Pinterest or Twitter. By keeping up with the latest trends, a consultant is able to predict how to best plan your future marketing strategy, ensuring that your business will always stay caught up with the most recent online platforms.
Hiring a Social Media Consultant
Before hiring a social media consultant, figure out what goals you have for your business. Consider the following to decide your business’ goals:
- Do you want to sell a product or service?
- Will social media marketing be beneficial to your business?
- What is your budget for a social media consultant?
- How do you want to reach your target market?
- Can your marketing team handle the social media marketing and continue implementing strategies after the social media consultant leaves?
- What specific skills do you want in a consultant that can help your business?
Once you’ve defined your business goals and have decided to hire a social media specialist, write down what you’d like to ask them to ensure they will be a good team player. Here are a handful of questions you can ask during your interview:
- Do you have any experience in digital marketing to my business’ target market?
- How can you engage my clients on social media platforms?
- What social media tools have you used before?
- Do you have one social network that you focus on the most? If so, do you think it would be beneficial to my business and why or why not?
- What campaigns have you created or planned before?
- How long would it take you to develop my business’ social media presence?
Conclusion
Social media consultants focus on everything that has to do with digital or Internet marketing. Due to their focus, your marketing team can grow in other areas of your marketing strategy, from website design to email marketing. With a social media specialist on the team, the team can also learn different ways to bring more to your business’s online presence that accommodates each member’s specific tasks.
As posted on: http://allvirtual.me/2013/08/14/5-reasons-to-hire-a-social-media-consultant-for-your-small-business/