A mind-blowing fact: nearly 60 percent of the world’s population uses social media! We are talking about roughly 4.7 billion people!
You already know that the growth of your business depends on a solid social media presence. The million-dollar question is, “what’s the magic behind social media marketing, and how can you leverage it?”
Let’s make it clear right from the outset. There is no single social media marketing solution that works perfectly for everyone. Your social media strategy will vary depending on the industry, brand identity, and the needs and preferences of your target audience. You will not gain a competitive advantage in your niche market without a customised plan based on reliable data.
That said, there are a handful of social media marketing best practices that will set you up for the long and exciting road to success. Let’s get started:
#1 Develop A Solid Social Media Marketing Strategy
Before launching a marketing campaign, you need to create a detailed roadmap. First and foremost, you need to ask yourself what your goals are and how you plan to achieve them. SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) are the foundation of any successful social media strategy.
Ambiguous objectives are a recipe for failure. More sales, better engagement or higher revenue are fantasies! Goals come with a procedural plan that helps you and every member of your marketing campaign know exactly what to do at all times. If you’re unsure which goals are priorities, take some time to evaluate your company’s current situation. Think about the big picture and figure out what part is still missing.
For example, if you’ve just started your business, most of your social media marketing will likely be dedicated to raising brand awareness and engaging the community. Or perhaps you already have a solid follower base and need to work on improving your brand image. Whatever your objectives are, make sure you prioritise and invest enough time, attention and investment to accomplish them.
#2 Collect Actionable Data
Making informed decisions requires information. It’s not the century’s discovery, but you’d be surprised how many business plans have failed simply because they were not based on reliable data. Social media marketing is also a business plan; you need to know the market like the back of your hand.
Start by understanding the demographics and persona of your target audience. What are their needs and problems, and what is your unique solution to that problem? Then, conduct a thorough competitive analysis to identify your competitors’ biggest weaknesses and strengths. As you share your audience with them, find out what marketing methods they are using to target their audience. This will give you a competitive edge to maintain your status at the industry’s top.
The more you know about your niche market, the better. When you know the target audience, competitors, company values, and product quality, you can better adapt to unexpected trends and exploit market gaps.
#3 Create Quality Content
High-quality content is critical to success, whether it’s social media marketing, boosting website performance or any other business promotion campaign. Well-structured original content means higher visibility and an effective online presence. When writing content, make sure it’s well-researched, readable and SEO-friendly. And remember that Google’s algorithms rank original content higher.
The content type is also important. The most common option is written content like social media posts, but you can also add graphics, reels, memes, etc. A broad content strategy is often a solid approach, but you should maintain a consistent image across all forms of content.
You can prepare platform-specific content for your social media accounts to increase the reach of your audience. First, however, you should research each platform and determine the type of audience you’re likely to target. With this information, your content writers and strategists can clearly understand how to target this specific audience segment more effectively.
#4 Keep the Flow Going
Social media marketing is not a one-time job. It’s about making a habit out of it. You’ll be fine if you create quality content and engage with your current and potential customers. Most brands hire higher-level social media managers because they recognise the significance of having an active social media presence.
If that’s not an option, there are ways to automate your social media activities and post regularly. This way, you maintain your proactive online presence while saving time to show up! Of course, consistency is not just limited to when you post. You must make it a general principle for all your social media marketing.
And that will pay off tremendously. You can expect higher customer retention and conversion, boosted brand awareness, and improved credibility and reputation. All the best things you could wish for a business!
#5 Engage With Your Audience
The core of social media marketing is creating a captive audience. And with all the advertising, it’s not easy to break the ice. If you don’t make the first move to start the conversation, you cannot expect an active community around your business. But you don’t have to do all the work either.
If you manage to connect with different audiences, you can just push the first domino and enjoy the chain effect. User-led conversations and user-generated content (UGC) are a huge plus for improving your online presence. You have to encourage them to participate and reassure them that their voice is being heard.
And remember, you can use user-generated content at all stages of the buyer’s journey to increase conversion rates, as it serves as excellent social proof. Publishing content from real customers increases your credibility and puts your brand’s promises in perspective.
#6 Audit Your Social Media Presence
Take a step back from time to time and check whether you’re on the right track or not. Building a business or being successful in social media marketing doesn’t happen overnight. You must constantly evaluate your performance, identify where you’re failing, and change your strategies.
It’s equally important to focus on strengths and opportunities. For example, if conversion rates are excellent on one platform, you should invest more there. You can also identify variables that have positively impacted your presence and apply them to other platforms.
To maintain active, healthy marketing, review your social media accounts regularly. Monitor your reach, likes, comments, number of followers and shares to determine the best content. And don’t forget to share your performance analytics with your marketing team. This will give them insights into areas that need improvement.
#7 Focus on Your Unique Business Tone
If your customers feel they can replace your products or services with similar ones, you will have a hard time surviving in today’s competitive market.
Social media is the right place to showcase your brand identity. All of your content, captions, video scripts, posts, and photos provide the opportunity to anchor your mission to your audience. At first, it can be a challenge to come up with a well-rounded and fully-fledged tone of voice. But over time, you’ll get to know your customer types better.
Aside from being unique, you also need to share five personality traits with any successful brand: Sincerity, Enthusiasm, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness. By developing these traits, you can build an emotional connection with a specific target audience, foster brand loyalty, and increase brand equity.
#8 Widen Your Reach
It’s always recommended to start your business promotion campaign on one social media platform if you’re short on budget. You still enjoy social media’s incredible targeting capabilities without spending a fortune. But your growth rate may slow down after a while because your audience reach is limited. Simply put, there are users out there who would’ve purchased from you only if they knew you.
So, while your business is on the rise, your audience reach should keep up the pace. One of the tried-and-true strategies you can use is running an advertising campaign. You can run ads on pretty much every social media platform, the most popular ones being Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
These platforms have developed highly efficient ad technologies. Sometimes you can find their suggestions weirdly relevant to your idiosyncratic interests. How? Well, they collect personal data about users’ identities and interests as well as their browsing and shopping behaviours. This will provide you with a powerful targeting capacity to broaden your reach.
#9 Watch the Comments!
One of the differences between running an online shop and a physical store is that customers don’t have direct access to you. When shopping online, you can’t read faces and interact with people in person. Or can you? Social media channels can serve as an outlet for customer support. Answer questions with kindness and respect, and thank users for the positive feedback.
The internet can be a brutal place where things fail in seconds. Always keep an eye out for shady accounts and plan how to handle tricky situations. Send the disgruntled account a direct message if necessary, fix the problem, and apologise if you’ve caused them any harm.
Also, spend some time on Reddit, Twitter or Google to read what others think about your products and services. Research relevant keywords and hashtags, and read any feedback, good or bad. Remember that occasional negative feedback is just a sign that your journey isn’t over yet. So stay calm and enjoy the ride!
#10 Track Your Performance
Any marketing campaign will inevitably experience ups and downs. Reviewing your performance and regularly identifying efficient and inefficient tactics is essential. Finding out which social media platforms generate the most conversions and revenue can save you time and money.
There are many metrics for tracking digital marketing and advertising performance. The most common and often essential metrics to pay attention to are impressions, engagement and reach, referrals, share of voice and conversions, as well as response rate and time. These analytics give you a 360-degree view of how your social media marketing is performing.
Besides, you’ll be able to predict more or less long-term trends since these indicators show how users behave and what they are interested in. This way, you can stay one step ahead of your competitors since you’ll have an informed idea of where the market is going and what adjustments it requires.
Bottom Line
Marketing efforts are exciting and challenging, and social media marketing is no exception. No business can move forward without a solid online presence. Social media puts you in touch with prospects and increases your brand awareness and customer retention. But here is the catch: your unique business vision requires a unique marketing strategy -a one-of-a-kind success plan. Do you know where to find it? Right here, at Broadweb!
We have a team of social media experts, passionate and dedicated to helping you create a social media campaign. We cover everything from website design and development to digital marketing, SEO, website hosting, maintenance, performance optimisation and website security audits. Contact us today!
