While having a powerful online marketing plan can do a lot to boost your business,

connecting effectively is key. Even with all the reach that is now available online, 84% of

people still rate personal recommendations as the most valuable form of advertisement.

Instagram offers a unique benefit for creating this type of community effect and makes the

site a must in order to have a powerful online marketing plan.

As any brand with a powerful online marketing plan will tell you, all social media is not equal.

So we recommend testing the waters to see if these recommendations are right for you and

your company before you spend too much money or effort. The first thing to remember is that

you are communicating with your following, and not at them. Traditional advertising was all

about getting the word out, but to really have a powerful online marketing plan, you must

connect.

Let's take a look at what steps you'll need to take:

Gather all the available information you have on your existing customer base in order to

draw a clear picture of who they are. After you have collected data on your existing

customer base it's time to do your online research. All of the major social media sites offer

some form of analytics and there are third party software solutions available as well. This

data will let you know who your audience, is what their interests are, and what their behavior

looks like.

Once you understand your audience it's time to develop a strategy. You won't be able to

achieve a powerful online marketing plan without a proper strategy. Thankfully, this can be

done with only a few steps.

Why are you using social media? Are you trying create brand awareness? drive sales?

grow your following? Setting a couple of goals for your social media marketing is important

to make sure that you can stay on task.

Once you have determined what your goals are you will need to define metrics in order to

see how effective your efforts are, and what activities create the results you want.

A powerful online marketing plan is full of storytelling. Who are you? What is your brand

about? Why should your audience care? These questions and more will help you connect

with your audience and define the direction of your marketing efforts.

Once you've completed the above steps it's time to decide on your content. Whether you

go for humor or information, the kinds of images or videos you will post, and the captions

and tags to go along, are all crucial parts of your content strategy. Once you know what you

want to achieve and convey with your content making those decisions is much easier.

Once your strategy is in place it's time to begin creating. You'll want to make sure that all of

your analytics are in place in order to track what types of content provide the best results.

Building a powerful online marketing plan takes great content and smart tracking.

The first three steps are necessary but this last step is what really makes the difference.

Social media marketing gives the opportunity to connect with our audience like never before.

We can communicate directly with them which is a powerful advantage. People find it easier

to communicate more freely online, so you know you will be getting real, honest feedback.

Replying to your follower's comments, liking their posts, and sharing their content are all

ways to increase engagement and build a powerful online marketing plan.

A powerful online marketing plan will take a lot of work, but the results are worth it.

Remember to test the waters first to make sure the platform will work for your goals. Once

you've chosen a platform plan, plan, and plan some more. Developing the right strategy and

metrics to track your success are crucial. After you've developed a plan start creating content

and connecting with your audience. Not only will this help you develop a powerful online

marketing plan, but you'll find out it's incredibly fun too!

Ingrid Griffin, Internet Marketing Consultant. Blue Dress® Marketing, an Internet Marketing

Company headquartered in Knoxville, TN. Internet Marketing Developed, Implemented and

Managed to Full Circle! Organic Internet Search Engine Guru. Turn Key Internet

Optimization Programs Placing You Everywhere and Anywhere You Need to Be Online®

ingrid@bluedressinc.com 865-951-5887