Social media has evolved into an effective tool for digital marketers. It is used by both large and small businesses to drive all aspects of their operations, including sales, marketing, customer service, and online sales.
Every marketing department wants to improve its social media marketing skills. This is a type of internet marketing in which social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are used as marketing tools.
According to a 2020 Sprout Social survey, 89 percent of respondents buy from brands they follow on social media. The study also revealed that marketers aren’t fully utilizing social data. Customers are present, but there is still room for marketers to improve their use of this tool.
Use of social media for marketing
While social media marketing can benefit any business, there are several types of businesses that are specifically designed for social media marketing. Some platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, cater to B2C audiences, whereas LinkedIn is ideal for B2B buyers. However, any business can use any platform because it all depends on where the buyers are and how they prefer to consume content.
Many direct sales companies have mastered the art of content creation and building an audience of followers. Pampered Chef, Park Lane Jewelry, and LuLaRoe all use social media to promote their products. LuLaRoe was also recently featured in a four-part Amazon Video documentary. Although the company has hundreds of thousands of social media followers, its popularity has dwindled over the years due to questionable business practices.
Developing an effective social media marketing strategy can be difficult. It is a skill that should be planned and executed as meticulously as any marketing campaign or tactic.
Tips for Social Media Marketing
When social media marketing first became popular, these accounts were managed by junior employees. It was widely assumed that being a serial social media user was all that was required to be a good social media marketer. In those early days, younger employees were familiar with social media. The average social media manager is now nearly 40 years old, with extensive marketing experience.
A good social media marketing manager must also be a good marketer. It is critical to comprehend how a tactic such as social media can be integrated into an engagement strategy to increase sales and retain loyal customers.
Here are 12 social media marketing tips to help businesses achieve their goals.
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Establish goals and objectives
Marketers can begin to improve their social media marketing success by setting goals and objectives for how they will use the platforms. It is best to align the goals of this strategy with those of the business. Having these objectives in place will also aid in measuring the success of social media marketing efforts.
Businesses should set SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Make a note of them and use them as a guideline when executing all campaigns. Among these are the following:
increasing social media web traffic by 25% in the next six months; converting 15% more leads from LinkedIn next month, and gaining 100 new Instagram followers from the next campaign
Making certain that the goals align with the marketing strategy will aid in demonstrating where social media is having an impact.
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Determine the intended audience
It is advantageous for businesses to collect data about existing customers. This data reveals who is purchasing and how they are interacting with a brand online.
Marketers should research which channels customers are likely to use after defining the target audience. Instagram is a good place for a fashion company to reach its target audience. LinkedIn will be used by a SaaS company whose buyers are more business-oriented. Because each social channel attracts a different audience, businesses should invest their time where their target audience spends their time.
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Choose the appropriate platforms
While different audiences use different social media platforms, it is not a good idea to launch social media marketing campaigns across all social channels at first. Marketers should begin by mastering a few social media channels. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are all important business platforms. Others, however, such as Pinterest and YouTube, have a place when it comes to advertising or promoting products. Each has a distinct market position and set of applications.
Twitter, for example, is a great place to share thought leadership and get real-time information, but posts are limited to 280 characters. Because LinkedIn is the home of all business professionals, it is an excellent place to target decision-makers. Facebook and Instagram are masters of visual storytelling through images, videos and reels, and live feeds. After building a fan base and scaling operations on a few social channels, businesses can consider expanding into new markets.
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Create or collaborate on a content strategy
Businesses should carefully consider the content they publish on social media. Marketers should not simply post something for the sake of posting something. One channel through which brands can disseminate their messaging is social media. A multichannel marketing strategy is used when a prospect or customer receives similar messages and promotions across multiple channels.
It is always a good idea to create timely and relevant posts, but organizations should ensure that content published on other channels can be repurposed for social media. When a new blog is published, businesses should promote it on social media several times. To maximize return, marketers should distribute promotional content at different times over several weeks. The same is true for new offers and content that has been gated. Marketers should ensure that when a new promotion begins, that content is shared. In addition, when a new webinar or white paper is scheduled or published, businesses should run a multi-week promotional campaign to get more eyes on it.
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Consistently publish content
Inconsistency is the worst thing a social media manager can do. If time and resources are being invested in a particular platform, it should be taken seriously and have a steady flow of content. People will follow a brand or a page if they enjoy the content that is shared. Consistent posting not only strengthens the brand but also builds customer loyalty. Followers will hopefully share and discuss the brand, resulting in more opportunities for word-of-mouth marketing.
Creating consistent content allows you to fill up your posting schedule. However, when the posting schedule dries up and there is a lull in new content, it is a good idea to look back at what has worked in the past, recycle the most relevant posts, and give them a new spin. This is also an excellent time to be personable with the audience to establish and maintain one-on-one relationships.
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Tell a story with visuals.
While text posts are an excellent way to disseminate information, images and videos boost engagement. Instagram and Facebook have built-in tools for making videos without the need for costly production equipment. These tools, however, should be used with caution. Marketers should ensure that any videos posted on a company’s Facebook page are of professional quality.
There are numerous graphic design tools available to assist in the creation of high-quality imagery for social media. It’s always helpful to have a creative eye, but tools like Canva and Visme make it simple to create images that are the right size for social media platforms.
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Keep an eye on conversations and build relationships
Followers are more likely to interact with brands directly on social media channels. This is an excellent opportunity for social media managers to build strong relationships with their followers. Consumers occasionally contact us with negative feedback, but more often than not, they have a positive experience to share with others. In either case and many others, when a brand responds and engages, it is more respected.
It’s also a good idea to use social listening tools to track, analyze, and respond to online conversations. Users may not send a direct message or write to a brand, but they may write about a brand. Businesses can benefit from having social listening tools in place to learn where people are and what they are talking about.
The following are some helpful hints for developing these relationships on social media:
Responding to comments and direct messages; retweeting and reposting relevant content and successes; using social media for customer service inquiries and responding to reviews and complaints; and responding in a timely fashion
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Make use of scheduling and automation software.
Marketers have a lot on their plates between responding to the community, building relationships, and creating new content. However, there are ways to save time, such as by using scheduling and automation tools.
Marketing teams can plan, schedule, and monitor their social performance using tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Sprinklr. It might be a good idea to plan out future posts, creating and scheduling them ahead of time. This allows social media managers to spend less time creating individual posts that are more aligned with the content strategy.
Other automation exists for social media tools, such as chatbots, which can send out automated messages when someone contacts a brand. While waiting for a response from the company, these messages can direct users to FAQs or other support services.
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Keep track of trends
Marketers must constantly monitor trends in an ever-changing social media landscape. Each social media platform is constantly optimizing its content presentation, changing algorithms, and posting rules regularly. Staying on top of these changes allows marketers to use the right tactics to get their content in front of the right users.
Aside from the technological aspects of changing social media trends, there are also content trends to consider. TikTok now defines many trends that marketers and advertisers use to be more relevant and relatable to their target audiences. Among the other trends are the following:
Live video content; messaging apps for customer communication; augmented reality; Instagram stories and Facebook Reels; and advertising
10 – Monitor the competition
Monitoring the competitive landscape is another way to stay ahead of the competition. Marketing managers can determine if they are keeping up with the market by watching what their competitors are doing. Marketers can also see how the competition engages with an audience through their channel.
If a competitor has more followers and engagement, it’s worth investigating how their strategy distinguishes them. Marketers should conduct a competitive analysis to determine what is and isn’t working.
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Make use of analytics
Every social media platform has its own set of native analytics. Who follows a page, which posts receive the most engagement, and when is the best time to post are all metrics that can be tracked to inform better social media marketing strategies. Get help of any good Digital Marketing Agency for better analysis.
Analytics will also assist in identifying any changes to the primary audience. This reveals which platforms a marketing team should use to engage with their target buyer personas. It can also provide information about the consumer’s preferred products and services.
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Promote and publicize
Social media advertising has the potential to increase the effectiveness of social media marketing programs. Targeting on social media is sophisticated, allowing campaign managers to micro-target their audience. This targeting makes use of both explicit and implicit details. Marketing executives can also use social media tracking pixels on brand websites to reach a larger audience.
Marketers can use social media to drive traffic to their websites, convert readers into qualified leads, and sell products or services.