- [Voiceover] Before social media,
marketing your business was easier to do.
Maybe you'd produce an ad and place it on a local TV show,
perhaps you'd try to get a story written about your business
in a trade magazine.
Once you had a plan you stuck to it,
and often wouldn't know whether it achieved your goals.
Today, you also need to develop
a social media marketing program,
and it's important to realize that nothing is set in stone.
That's why you should test and adapt your tactics,
and be prepared to adjust your campaign in real-time
if your metrics tell you you're not heading
where you want to go.
Social media changed the speed of communication,
gave us two-way interactivity,
and increased the proliferation of channels
so your customers can spread the news.
Let's look at Topsy Turvy bakery.
Suppose they want to write a blog post
on cake frosting tips and share that on social media.
Imagine they've come up with a couple of headlines
and aren't sure which one their customers would prefer.
How can they test that?
If they have a large email marketing list
they could do an A/B email test.
In an A/B test, you compare two creative options
to determine the one that performs best.
Topsy Turvy would start by randomly selecting
a few hundred people from their email list,
dividing them into two groups and sending one group
the first headline,
and the second group the second headline,
then they could examine which headline
had the better open or click-through rate,
and also if it performed the same or better
than other initiatives.
Analyzing the data will help them decide
which headline worked best for their customers.
A simpler way of doing an A/B test for a headline
is to try it out on Twitter.
Tweet out each headline with a trackable link.
You can get those links from a site like bitly.com
that shortens links and tracks the engagement,
then figure out which headline drove the most traffic
to your site.
Of course, this only works if you have an engaged following.
The point is, you want to pay attention
to how your marketing is being received,
and ask yourself the following questions.
Are you getting the number of clicks, comments,
and traffic that you expected?
If not, do you know why?
Are people reacting positively, negatively,
or in a neutral manner to your content?
How does this initiative compare to what you've done
in the past?
Then, analyze the answers and determine whether or not
you need to adapt.
Be sure to limit the number of variables you test
so you'll have a better idea of what's working.
You might need to change the image or photo,
maybe the headline isn't catching people's attention,
or perhaps it's a combination of the two.
It's tough to predict what will catch on.
Learn from past initiatives,
stay open to making adjustments,
and above all, test out various options before you go live,
and be prepared to listen to what your customers are saying
and turn on a dime.
That way you'll have a better chance
at social media marketing success.