Social Media Marketing in Ireland, No one expected the industrial era to last so short. The abrupt entry of technology and its permanent establishment was a surprise to many; so much so, that the adaptation of companies (new and old) has been a bit slow. The updates of new and improved methods are constant, causing thousands of euros strategies to expire soon and cease to have the results for which it was invested.
This fact makes us need to constantly update what we know and apply, especially in the business field.
Ireland’s progress in the virtual world
A country like Ireland, couldn’t be left behind in all this new digital move. More and more industries join and adopt innovative tools that benefit them in their productive, administrative processes and increase their reputation, not only nationally, but also in the world.
Ireland is recognized as a paradise of technology. Its economic growth; in past years has placed it as the fifth fastest growing region in the world; highlighting sectors such as construction, industry, commerce, art and software development. The latter has had a great impact on the internal economy; since these companies have stood out for their specialized services inside and outside the national territory; providing profitability benefits that far exceed the investments made to obtain them.
The most prominent market niches in the technological area are those related to advertising and digital positioning of businesses. Regardless of whether it’s large or small; whether industry, commerce or office; the virtual strategies used to cement them in this universe cannot be equated; and the measurement of its results shows a clear vision of the constant benefits that are obtained with the help of these strategies.
The positioning of social media digital marketing in the country
They are perhaps the most impressive and productive, those digital strategies related to the interaction of communities. All the tools that Irish companies use, related to social media marketing, always exceed the results expected by the owners and advertising agents. Virtual reputation has become even more important than a specially crafted business facade, and people have changed their way of acquiring goods and services based on it.
The consumer no longer buys online if it isn’t for a strong connection with the brands, who day by day, invest large amounts of money to keep their customers loyal and attract new ones to their networks. The special approach that is taken is the added value that represents good content within the social media marketing strategy. It’s no longer just about selling, selling and selling; It’s mainly about offering the audience valuable information that can help them, regardless of whether they buy a product or not.
This results in high traffic for brands, which will never be exceeded by the number of customers, but that will bring much larger benefits in the medium and long term. A happy customer, connected and loyal to the brand, knows that it’s not enough to buy a product of €5 if the value that the company invested in him, all the time that he was his “friend” has been made exceeds €1,000, just in free content and available to everyone.
A loyal customer through social media marketing in Ireland today is a secure sale of a Premium product tomorrow.
Building a business with good social media marketing bases
It’s much simpler for an established company to create a social media marketing strategy; since it has already traveled the necessary path to cement a solid brand identity and a stable client portfolio. These businesses have sufficient capacity to hire the services of specialized agencies in the area or internal professionals that do all the work of positioning and digital reputation.
However, that is not the case for small businesses that are still trying to make a place in the market. Many times, these entrepreneurs must start with few resources and execute advertising strategies for themselves; without even knowing how to evaluate the results and redefine the projects.
And, if there was another alternative, everything would be easier; but the truth is that there is none. If you want your business to grow rapidly in the digital world, you must apply more effort and hours of work so that your brand can establish itself as a leader in the sector in which it operates.
How to start from 0 with a little knowledge
In advance, we confess that if you want to execute a social media marketing strategy for yourself, 1 hour per day for that, will not be enough. You should be aware that, at the beginning, a minimum investment of 4 hours for each business, which adds up to 28 hours per week, is what will bring real value to the strategy being designed.
It’s also completely false, that you will not have to make investments for your social media marketing strategy. You will have to invest in resources provided by other professionals in the area; resources that you cannot develop. The only way you can do everything yourself is if you are a digital marketing agency. But, if you dedicate yourself and your business to another niche, you can hardly create absolutely everything without paying a single euro.
Therefore, we will talk step by step about the minimum essential that your social media marketing strategy should have to take the first steps in the digital world; taking into account the available platforms, the tools to be used, the content to be developed, the route to follow and the mechanisms to observe results and, if necessary, reformulate the strategy.
These aspects to be developed are general, and for that reason, the strategy must be flexible and subject to drastic changes, since, although it’s true that it works, it’s also true that the methods used are different in all companies, like than results that your company needs.
Main social media marketing platforms available
Although there are many platforms that seem to be a good idea, not all of them are suitable for starting your brand positioning from 0. You must be chosen to start those with the highest rate of use in the country; not for a passing trend, but for its solidity and permanence over time.
They must also have scalable tools that allow you to gradually expand your social media marketing strategy so that it’s not too limited and can adapt to the progress of your business.
The main and most used social network in Ireland is Facebook. This social network is essential for the digital strategy of a business, as it will provide the company with a wide catalog of functionalities that will allow it to develop elaborate, creative and suitable campaigns for all kinds of audiences. The Facebook marketing will boost your business in all areas; helping you increase your sales, reduce the time it takes some administrative processes and allowing the analysis of your strategies.
In addition to that, the Facebook marketing will expand the reach of your brand from the local to the world, because it beings the most important and influential social network, with average of 8 out of 10 citizens registered in the platform. Those who cannot speak directly with you about your product or service, but who may need it, may hear about it in a post on the other side of the world and can contact you with just one click.
Other advantages of a Facebook marketing strategy is that it allows you to receive feedback from your consumers to improve what you offer and even what your brand represents. It’s essential to make a place in this social network and make the most of the free and paid tools it offers.
Another of the indispensable platforms to position your company is the LinkeIn corporate social network. It’s a bit complicated to understand this tool and even more, to execute a strategy. But in it, a social media marketing campaign is important and indispensable for the positioning of your business as a serious and reliable company.
The main objective of this social network is to provide the image of the company with a corporate and firm air; so that, whether they are customers, employees or even future partners and investors, they can look at the central column that characterizes a business: excellence.
LinkeIn strategies don’t require much work, but the focus of content that will be shared is necessary. Even if on Facebook, a single image is enough for someone to become a fan of your page; In LinkeIn you will need to provide a lot of valuable content to make you look great. If you make the decision to start an advertising project with the help of this platform, you should be well informed about what you need, or contact an expert mentor to do so.
It’s one of the social networks that, despite its organizational instability, has remained firm, as well as its users. The main characteristic of a strategy on this platform is the constancy. The interaction should never stop, being necessary at first to do it several times a day.
The kind of audience that frequents this social network is intellectual; So, the content most be used to touch the deepest brain’s fibers your potential clients. On Twitter, many mistakes are made. Big companies like Mc’Donals have done great campaigns trying to take advantage of this social network and many of them have failed. Therefore, if you decide on Twitter, the campaign you prepare must be completely clean.
Fortunately for all, a good campaign on Twitter ensures the success and permanence of a brand in the timelines of its audience. The key to this network is to always stay connected and provide valuable content, tarnished by the personality of the company.
Although young, it’s a social network that has positioned itself among the audience of all ages. With its innovative style and more graphic content, Instagram can show people a different side to the businesses; giving it unique features and allowing interaction with followers. It’s a great advantage to have a good campaign on Instagram. Its functionalities are special and accessible; allowing the brand to develop its creative projects with greater freedom.
It allows, not only to share content, but also to create virtual stores, link other digital products (web pages, e-mails, other networks), make videoconferences, live broadcasts and many other useful options. It design is nice, clean and highlights the content and identity of the company registered in it.
Like Facebook, Instagram is an indispensable social network for a company. Investing time, money and effort in it, will ensure a greater result in the near future because it’s a growing platform with a high probability of success.
The microblogs’ era never goes out, and with this style and under that vision was born Pinterest. This social network is one of the most innovative in the market. In it, creative people, who want to show things about themselves and their lives, tend to stay, allowing interaction between them and their position as influencers in a specific sector.
Companies take advantage of this social network, when their strategy is based on audiovisual content. It’s the focal point of furniture and interior decoration companies, brands dedicated to fashion, artists, pets, gastronomy, tourism and everything related to beauty; because his hook is the sight. For the reason that it’s new, starting now with a brand strategy will position you as the leading brand in the future.
It’s a social network that, like LinkedIn, is difficult to understand at the beginning. But once you work with its interface, the good campaigns that are launched, achieve a resounding success for many brands; increasing the number of followers and therefore, of potential clients.
YouTube
With more than 14 years owning the 80% of the audiovisual content on the Internet, YouTube is the main resource for a well-founded brand. In advance we tell you that it’s not cheap to create a YouTube campaign. Not precisely because YouTube charges money to its users; but because the production of content for a campaign in this social network requires many resources.
However, a good social media marketing strategy on YouTube is a guarantee of success. Users of this social network can spend a whole day interacting in it, if the content they consume is interesting and appropriate. Therefore, regardless of the product or service you offer, thinking of a strategy to produce videos for the audience, so that it can make them interested in your brand is essential.
Creating a YouTube Channel for business is perhaps one of the most difficult campaigns today. But, if you do it right, you will be able to obtain a faithful audience that falls in love with your content and links it in all its social networks. You may not see the results at first, but over time, the investment you have made to produce for the campaign, you will triple it without hesitation.
Essential tools to accompany your campaign
As we explained earlier, it’s not possible to run a good social media marketing campaign in Ireland today, without investing a euro. Possibly, using the platforms will not generate any cost if you produce your content and don’t pay advertising; but only one platform is not enough. You can make a lot of fans, but if your goal is to convert them to customers, you must complement them with these tools.
Web page
No matter the size of it or even the complexity it has. It’s necessary to have a website that works as your brand’s digital office. Most customers who would spend €1,000 euros on you, will not do so simply for a post they like on your Instagram profile. They need and deserve seriousness from you; and the best way to grant them is through a web page.
No. Not a page hosted on a free server. You need your own domain and hosting that you can keep under control, custom its design and that fully reflects the identity of your company. In addition to this, having a web site is also make sure virtual payment platforms, product inventory, file hosting and a large number of functionalities that you would not have in a social network.
Email marketing
Another of the indispensable tools to convert the followers that you will achieve with your social media campaigns, is through email marketing strategies. Just by getting 100 of them to give you their emails, you could close at least of 20% of sales with a good strategy. This is closely linked to the website. If you manage to link social network / web site / email marketing correctly, your business will be greatly enhanced.
No. You cannot do an email marketing campaign with a free email. This must come from a private server, with a username that represents your brand and you must make use of the mass contact tools available on the web.
There are many companies and agencies that offer advice in this area, as well as the necessary functionalities adapted to your budget. It’s advisable to make a budget of how much scope you want to have and how much you have to hire one of these services.
Analítica web
Social media marketing campaigns shouldn’t be executed blindly. The main thing, before, during and after doing so, is to analyze very well the development of the campaign. At first, evaluating the market and the interests of your potential clients will help determine the strategy. Then, continuous monitoring will avoid failures that may arise and maintain real-time interaction with users. Finally, the analysis of the results will show the necessary reformulations and what is going well.
For that, it’s necessary to use many web and social analytics tools, which will yield immediate results on the campaigns. There are many free versions that evaluate performance to some extent; but for a company, that data will not be enough. If you don’t want to hire a professional who can says that what is wrong or well in the campaign, then you need to make an investment in some platform to do it.
Do I do it or hire someone?
For those entrepreneurs who don’t have the monetary availability to hire a social media marketing professional, but who have the time to do the campaigns themselves, it’s recommended that they do so, because a simple strategy that will help them grow is better, that, for lack of knowledge, are forbidden to create their reputation in the digital world.
But if your company is already established and, although you have the resources to pay a social media marketing advisor, you want to do so; you must ask yourself:
- Will I have the time to do everything?
- Will it affect my other responsibilities within the company?
- Which weak points will not allow me to contribute to the campaign?
- What does my company really need?
- What is it that I want to reflect as identity?
- What paid tools will I need?
- How far do I want to go with this campaign?
- Who of my employees could take care of some things?
- What external person could help me with some functions?
- Do I have the necessary equipment to create the content?
- Do I really want to do this?
Answering each one of those questions, it will be clear what you can do and what not. It’s not necessary to hire someone’s services to do everything; but if it’s necessary that you limit yourself only to what is in time and knowledge capacity, delegating the rest to someone you deem appropriate or even automating processes with the help of digital tools.
The experience of a social media marketing campaign must be satisfactory for the audience, as well as for those who prepare, monitor and execute it. Therefore, it’s necessary that you understand the great importance that you should give to these kinds of projects, which, will cement the memory of consumers, as you should proceed with your brand.
And if you manage to do it right, the loyalty of your customers will remain for long years.
