How many times have you written a tweet, or Facebook post and not sent it, because you weren’t sure it was right for your audience? I know I have, and so have a lot of my clients.

Whether you’re starting out in social media, or have been using it for your business for a period of time, knowing what works and what doesn’t is crucial as we move further into 2016; the year of social selling.

Matt Zajechowski from Digital Third Coast reached out to me, to share a very interesting infographic which shows the impact of social media market research. Did you know that 72% of users using social media for market research had spent 11 hours A WEEK researching, and had seen benefits?

With Insights Marketing, Matt developed a guide that breaks down the do’s and don’ts of researching using social media.

The Statistics

Even though only 50% of marketers believe that social media research is beneficial, 71% of business owners see that insight into their target market through social media research is one of the most valuable and powerful ways to use social media.

So, what are the common marketing uses for Social Media?

Social Media

The Social Media Do’s

Define Your Goals & Objectives

This is a big must when it comes to using social media for your business. Without fully understanding why you are using each social network, and what you want to achieve it will be useless.

Budget

If you are going to use social media, and specifically the paid advertising, you should have a budget in place. Do your research and find out how much it costs to do what you need to do on social media.

Use More Than Social Media

Make sure you are using surveys, email marketing, content writing and other forms of digital marketing to reach your target audience online.

Keep An Open Mind

Regardless of what your target audience say to you, you need to make sure you listen. Keep an open mind and take onboard the good feedback, as well as the bad.

Stay Focused

Make sure you stay focused by setting yourself achievable goals for your business that are action orientated.

The Social Media Don’ts

Don’t Just “Take a Chance”

Social media is about researching, testing, and adjusting your social media activity. You should always do your research first – don’t just take a chance and hope for the best as this will waste your time and money.

Don’t Just Use Social Media

Yes, social media is great for reaching your target market, but you also need to consider other digital marketing avenues as well.

Don’t Only Focus On “Viral” Ideas

By viral ideas, I mean posts that will make your business the talk of the internet. This won’t give you the valuable marketing insight you need, and you might find your business looked poorly upon if your “viral” content can be perceived as negative.

Don’t Get Discouraged

Just because you might not be seeing the results you want to see, doesn’t mean you should be discouraged. Stay focused, and keep working on social media for your business.

You can see the full infographic which inspired this article here.

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