For all businesses these days, big or small, whether they are a coaching practice, a traditional bricks and mortar business or exist entirely with web-based operations, it’s crucial to utilise various online marketing techniques to ensure success. Online marketing is deemed one of the most effective ways of communicating business messages and brand awareness. The group which you target are spending more and more time online. A recent study showed that most people these days spend at least seven hours a day online and a large chunk of that time is dedicated purely to checking social media accounts. Needless to say, if coaches want to target a market more precisely, they cannot do without underutilised, powerful digital marketing strategies.
A Facebook post or YouTube video may play a part in the conversion of a lead, but more often or not a phone call or form filling gets the credit for the sale. New research suggests that this is changing. The research conducted by Social Media examiner indicates that sales attributed to social media rose 7% to take the global figure to 3.3 billion in tracked social media sales. Other trends to come out of this research noted the continued rise of mobile social networking, the rise of video and the big impact the podcasts are having. It’s worth noting that trends in social media open new opportunities for coaches to really get the most out of their marketing initiatives.
And speaking of trends, they can definitely work to any coach’s advantage. But to edge out the competition and optimise their benefit, staying ahead of social media trends is key. How to do that? Here are five quick and easy tips.
- Use your current followers to obtain a solid idea of what they want, what they need, and what’s present (or not) in your social media service menu. Conduct surveys, read through the comments, track levels of engagement and satisfaction through likes, retweets, regrams, repins, etc.
- Stay updated with the changes that popular social media sites are about to implement. Facebook releases news about new functionalities months before the changes are implemented. Examine these changes and determine how you can work them into your marketing strategy and reinforce your brand.
- Establish relevance in all types of media. Always remember that despite the changing trends and search engine requirements, compelling content cuts through the noise. Make sure that however you present your content; it is evergreen or can stand the test of time in terms of importance and usefulness.
- Be consistent with your output. If possible, release new information through social media every day; you can automatically “lock in” your target audience so that any transition you make can be done smoothly. Tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Post Planner can help save time when working on the art of consistency. Also, with this tactic, your audience may even become oblivious, over time, to new things that others are doing. Be relevant, be different.
- Be creative, think outside the box. Utilising social media in a clever way could propel your business to the next level. We see a lot of examples out there. By taking your existing content and presenting it in a different way on the various social channels could be just the cut through you need. Smaller digestible content, 15 seconds, 1 – 2 mins. Use Slideshare, post a video on Vine, and look at new networks such as Snap Chat for opportunities.
Consider the trends in the ever changing landscape of social media. There is no room for complacency. Keep practicing, keep measuring. No one knows this better than a coach running his/her own practice. Remain on trend or ahead of the curve, complacency is not an option.