The key to turning your business into a social media marketing success is focusing on the fundamentals that already make your business great, and enabling your customers to spread the word about your exceptional products or services.

Here is a 5-step plan for linking your customers’ experience to the power of their endorsement, which will, in turn, bring more customers to your business:

1. Start with exceptional service.

Though providing your customers with positive, memorable experiences may seem an obvious suggestion, the importance of this first step cannot be understated. Whatever inspired you to first open your doors (or whichever services set you apart from your competition today) is what you need to focus on in every customer interaction you have.

When you’re firing on all cylinders and giving your patrons a top-notch experience, you’re turning casual customers into passionate ones. For better or for worse, these are the types of people who are most likely to spread the word about your business to their friends and colleagues. And for any social media marketing campaign to take off, you need to have all-out fans willing to evangelize your brand and the great experiences they’ve had with it.

2. Engage your customers with interesting content.

Great service is a first step in building a passionate fan base, but the next step involves extending the experience outside your four walls. E-mail marketing helps you reach your passionate customers when they are not in your store by sharing news, tips and other information through periodic communications.

The benefits of e-mail marketing go beyond simply keeping your customers informed. The basic act of asking for an e-mail address strengthens the bond between your business and your customers because they are entrusting you with a piece of their personal information. And while an e-mail address may seem like a tiny detail, when someone gives it to a business, that proves the business is a trusted contact that the person would like to engage with on a deeper level. In addition, e-mail newsletters are easily (and often) forwarded to and shared with friends, so this a simple first step towards leveraging your customers’ contacts, if they choose to forward along your messages.

3. Help your passionate customers spread the word.

Forwarding an e-mail newsletter is still a great way for your customers to spread the word about your company, but social media marketing provides a lot of other ways, too. For example, archive your e-mail newsletter content online. This will allow you to post the newsletter as links on various social networking sites around the Web.

Andrea Herran of Point Barrington, Illinois-based Focus HR Consulting does a great job of leveraging her e-mail content to drive her social media marketing efforts. Every month, she sends out a short e-mail newsletter that features an article about management, and includes links to her recent blog posts and other resources that might interest her subscribers. Before she sends out the newsletter, Herran runs a teaser post on Twitter that often prompts more people to sign up. And after the newsletter is sent, she engages with subscribers about it on Facebook, talking about ideas she shared and learning more from her customers.

4. Turn casual acquaintances into passionate customers.

Sharing information with friends is the very nature of social media marketing, so using this channel to engage your most passionate customers will quickly increase awareness in your business among their contacts. This is why providing content to your most passionate customers is so important: Give them something worthwhile to talk about, and they will gladly share it with their friends. Some examples of items your business could post include:

• Details on new products, or changes to existing offerings
• Specials, deals, discounts and coupons
• News on upcoming events
• Information about community functions your business may be participating in
• Offers, prizes, rewards and contests

As the word spreads about your news, more customers will connect with your business via social media. In fact, customers are more likely to connect via social media than they are through e-mail marketing — but don’t let that discourage you. E-mail subscribers are more engaged because they interact through their inbox, which means they’ll be alerted when your message arrives, while social media contacts get distracted more easily. Social media is very popular right now, but remember that its users tend to be more like casual acquaintances in comparison to the passionate customers that e-mail marketing provides.

5. Keep the “virtuous circle” going.

If the ultimate goal is to convert as many people into passionate customers as possible, then it all comes back to providing a great customer experience. Use social media marketing to lure customers into your business, where you can wow them with the kind of exceptional service they heard about from their contacts. And if these new customers heard about your business via social media, try to get them to sign up for your e-mail newsletter while they’re there. When they do, you’ll know you’ve found another passionate customer, and your efforts will spin onward to their friends.

This creates a virtuous circle that will continue to build buzz and generate followers for your business with every new newsletter and great customer experience you produce.

The post 5 Steps to Building Your Social Media Marketing Plan appeared first on Small Business Trends.

1. Consider your image

What words do you want your recipients to think of when they receive an e-mail from you? Here are a few: knowledgeable, available, professional, reliable and respectful. Every e-mail you send to a customer, prospect or member puts your brand and message front and center. You are building a brand among your constituents, and your e-mail marketing efforts can go a long way to support it. Let the values and personality traits of your business or organization guide you as you plan and create your marketing communications.

2. Determine what information is most valuable to your readers

How do you know what content is most valuable to your readers? Ask them. An online survey is an easy, affordable, and effective way to find out what your customers are thinking. The results you get back can provide helpful insight into the value of your e-mails, what content is most relevant, how your readers use the content you provide, and much more. Another way to learn what topics are of most interest to readers is to review and analyze your campaign delivery metrics. Look at your open rates and click-throughs to determine which articles generated the most interest, and which subject lines resulted in more opens. You can then identify the most popular topics that will appeal to your subscribers going forward.

3. Get your readers invested

Another consideration in your planning is how to get your customers more invested in your e-mail content. This goes beyond just writing about topics they’ll find interesting. Engage them by making them part of the content. You could add a question and answer section to your newsletters, conduct an online survey focused on content, or simply ask for feedback in every issue. Consider inviting your customers to share their success stories or suggest tips or information for other readers. Giving your audience opportunities to be heard and even seen will make their experience more personal and help you to forge a greater connection with them. And it will help you add fresh, engaging content to your communications.

4. Expand your reach – grow your list

Do you want to find more people who are interested in what you have to offer and to more deeply engage with those with whom you already have a relationship? If so, think about how you will use e-mail marketing to do it. It starts with list growth. Who do you want to add to your list? How will you ask them to join? How will you promote your e-mail communications and engage others in promoting them as well? The answers to these questions will help guide your communications strategy and the tactics you’ll employ. Perhaps you should incorporate an incentive or loyalty program to generate new subscribers and strengthen existing subscriber relationships. Or, you could partner with a like-minded business that offers a complimentary service or product and encourage your customers to sign up for their newsletter and vice versa. You could even conduct an event aimed at your shared customers.

5. Schedule your e-mail communications

Now that you’ve analyzed your reports, surveyed your customers, and figured out what content you want to send, it’s time to sit down with the calendar and plan. Consider upcoming seasons (back-to-school, the winter holidays) and events as e-mail marketing opportunities. Outside of these events, try and identify one unifying topic, component or section of your newsletter that will remain consistent throughout the year. Perhaps, you will include a monthly recipe, tip of the month, or link to a news article that pertains to your audience. Whatever it is, your readers will come to expect it and will be excited to see what’s included when they hear from you. Put all those ideas into the plan and then round it out from there.

Your e-mail marketing plan can serve as your roadmap going forward. By planning your customer communications strategy now, you’ll set benchmarks for what you want to accomplish in the coming months and identify the tools and tactics to help you achieve your goals.

If you want an additional, more thorough planning tool, download Constant Contact’s free Email Marketing Workbook. It includes probing questions and ideas to help you continue to build a winning communications strategy and plan for your business.

The post 5 Steps to Successful E-Mail Marketing appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Planning an event is a process that can be both challenging and time consuming, yet is a very effective way for businesses to promote their goods and services. Some challenges include choosing a venue, managing invitations, organizing responses, and tracking payments.

Take a look at the following tips to help you overcome these challenges and transform your event vision into an exceptional reality:

Plan for Success

Consider your audience when scheduling an event. The “when” and “where” are important considerations to maximize attendance. For every event, you should set two goals: what you hope to accomplish, and what you hope your attendees will accomplish. These planning tips will help to focus your efforts, communicate effectively, and provide a meaningful experience for all involved.

Invitations – Make it Personal

There’s a very good chance that your customer’s first impression about your event will result from your email invitation, so your invite must be engaging. Your invitation should look professional and communicate the basic information about your event. Here are some tips to sending great online invitations:

• It’s important to segment your list. You want to invite the people who are most interested.
• Personalize it (include invitee names).
• Brand the invitation with your company’s logo and colors. Your customers should know it’s coming from you without seeing a single word.
• Include the purpose for, and the benefits of, attending your event.
• Provide clear details on the where, when, and costs associated with the event, as well as contact information.
• Include a map, if possible, and driving directions.

Promote Proactively

Invitations may not be enough to guarantee a packed house. There are a few extra steps that can help raise awareness, encourage attendance, and fill seats at your event. Suggestions include:

• An event specific website. This is a great place to list all the details of the event: the general description, purpose, fees, activities, links to other websites, special guests, and additional resources.
• Like the original invitation, ensure all promotions include your brand, company logo and colors.
• If the event is open to the public, consider promoting your event on social networking sites. My experience is that social networking is complementary to promotional tools like email invitations. I find that I can increase attendance by at least 10% or more by incorporating social networking into the mix.
• Remember to send a reminder in the days leading up to the event.
• Include an events calendar to promote future events.
• Capture more than standard information for use in future marketing efforts.
• If there are fees for your event, collect these during registration. Collecting fees electronically avoids the security risks of managing and storing credit card numbers on your own computer. And, if you can get registrants to pay at the time of registration, you’re getting a firm commitment from those individuals that they will attend the event.
• If you collect fees, always include a refund policy.

Leverage the Right Tools

Small businesses should value their brand and strive for professionalism when communicating with their customers and prospects. A tool designed for professional use offers the best solution to meet these demands. As with email marketing and online survey, there are online tools available to help you plan, track, and manage your event.

Make It Count

There is always opportunity to improve on your event after the fact. Post-event activities can reveal useful information about what worked and how you can improve your next event.

• Track those who attended vs. those who did not.
• Send a timely follow-up communication to include highlights of the event, pictures and overall summary.
• Conduct a post-event survey of attendees to capture their experience at the event.
• Ask about areas for improvement in your next event.

From pre-event planning to post-event analysis, a successful event will greatly benefit from using the right online solution. By following these suggestions, you can be more productive in less time, look professional, and provide a satisfying event experience for your attendees.

The post Organizing Perfect Events appeared first on Small Business Trends.