Once your message is on point and understood by everyone on your team, you can begin to develop a strategy for using social media for outreach. Plan your social media campaigns judiciously: rather than boil the ocean, use the right vehicle to reach your core audience. Effectively mapping social media includes:

• Getting a clear picture of your best customers. It’s not realistic to expect that you can develop a product, service, or marketing message with universal appeal. By focusing on your sweet spot and targeting your outreach to prospects who fit that profile, you optimize both your immediate revenue potential and your likelihood of developing a sustainable and loyal customer base.
• Understanding what’s available. When creating or reviewing your advertising budget, make sure you’re fully informed about the ad programs available through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., but don’t neglect opportunities for earned media, which is often seen as more credible than paid advertising because the people promoting the company don’t gain anything by posting their comments.
• Make the most of analytics. Chances are good that your company is not taking full advantage of the analytics available to it via free tools. Even if you’ve adopted those tools, you may be underutilizing them or be unaware of the capabilities they offer. One example is Google Analytics and its Assisted Conversion Report, which you use by establishing goals within your Google Analytics package. For example, your website may have a “contact us” sales form whose use can be identified as a Google Analytics goal.

Remember to do your homework and test, test, test. Because these platforms want you to spend your money, they now offer great analytics in-line, allowing you to know how your ads and posts are doing and even create different scenarios. Remember, too, to analyze your conversion results via paid versus earned media.

Read the Connections to Growth: Turning Outreach into Revenue guide to learn more about optimizing your social media efforts.