In the past several blog posts, we covered topics like how we at Nymbl use print-on-demand (POD) technology to get customers cool and unique designs on a seemingly endless number of products and product types. We also talked a little bit about finding the best audience to sell your products to. If you missed those post, you can find them here.
In today’s post we are going to talk a little bit about one of the next steps in the marketing process. We will go over marketing in general in the next blog post, but for this one, we are going to focus on the social media portion of your marketing plan. We are going to start with this because it’s one of the easiest, most effective and most efficient ways to market, even if you have a small or even nonexistent marketing budget.
The first thing you’ll want to consider is what platforms you want to use your marketing on. Depending on the type of products you sell, this may differ, but most people elect to cast a wide net and market on most of the more popular platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc.). Of course, there are some advantages and disadvantages to taking this approach. One advantage is you have a better chance at getting eyeballs on your products and posts using many platforms and posting frequently. A disadvantage is that it will take a lot more effort and planning to make sure you are posting quality content and/or ad’s using several platforms. This will take more time and probably more money if using the paid portions of the site advertising. Usually, if you can spare the extra time and brainpower, it’s better to cast the wider net. However, if you really want to hammer one or two platforms and put all your energy into those, that is a great option as well.
Next you will need to decide whether or not you want to use paid advertisements on one or several of these platforms. Facebook, for example, can run targeted ads (meaning you can pick demographics and location of people who see the ads) for as little as a few dollars per day. This method will help people see your posts more than leaving it up to these sites’ algorithms to decide who sees them as it would without the paid ad’s. This is applicable on the other platforms as well.
Next, whether your posts are paid for or not, you need to make engaging content. This could come in a variety of ways and depends a lot on your personality, your audience and your products and designs. You can use great photos, videos, internet memes, cool designs, humorous wordplay, wonderfully written paragraphs, or a combination of these and more! This is where you get to be creative and experiment.
A good rule of thumb for social media marketing is the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should be non-sales oriented, while 20% of your postings can be used to promote your brand/company. To maximize social media engagement, all your content should have at least one of these effect on your audience: inspire, converse, convince, educate or entertain. Using insights (data about your posts and the people engaging with them) that are built into these sites, you’ll be able to see what type of post have the best engagement and success. This information is valuable especially if you are spending money on it and look to expand your marketing.
Social media can be a great way to get your feet wet with marketing. So many people use and connect with these platforms that your ability to reach them is heavily boosted. You’ll need to put some clever thought and plan out your tactics in advance, especially when considering things like the date and time for posts, being aware of current events and trends, and what performs the best for you.
Now it’s time for you to hop on some of these sites and learn the ins and outs of them. There are a lot of instructional materials, guidelines and best practices out there that can walk you through a lot of the details and more in depth usage of these sites. As always, if we, here at Nymbl can help, don’t hesitate to contact us!
