If you’re not already on social media, then you’re falling way behind the competition. As more people rely on these platforms to not only connect with each other but also with brands and businesses, it’s never been more crucial to have a solid marketing strategy.
Fortunately, we’re here to help. We know what it takes to make your brand get noticed on social media, so following these tips will ensure that you can catch up to your competitors and get the success you deserve.
Step One: Establish Your Goals
Before working on any type of marketing campaign, it’s imperative that you figure out what you want to accomplish. All too often, businesses think that raising awareness of their brand is all it will take to drive higher sales, but that can lead to a disjointed or ineffective campaign.
Instead, narrow down your goal to something more specific. Some examples can include-
- Increasing your site traffic.
- Building sales of a particular product or service.
- Improving your conversion rate.
Overall, no matter how you’re marketing your business, awareness will be a natural side effect, so don’t worry about campaigns to “get your name out there.” After all, if people don’t know why they should pay attention to your brand, seeing your logo or mascot won’t do much to get them to buy from you.
Another thing to consider when establishing your goals is to think about how you are going to measure when they’ve been achieved. For example, if you want to raise your conversion rate, how high do you want it to be? How many more conversions per day, per week, and per month are you hoping for? By having a quantifiable goal, it’s much easier to determine if and when you’ve made it.
Step Two: Find Your Target Customer
No matter what you sell, you can’t market yourself to everyone. Even if you’re selling products or services that a lot of people need or want, there’s no way that you can appeal to all of them at the same time.
Just like you need to get specific with your goals, you also have to do so with your customers. The benefit of narrowing your marketing viewpoint is that you can focus your attention and your appeal enough to get the attention of a particular demographic, rather than spreading yourself too thin and missing the mark. Also, remember that you can develop multiple campaigns, so don’t think that by picking out a target customer you’re neglecting others.
When choosing a demographic, you also have to be specific. Instead of trying to appeal to Millennials or women ages 25-40, you should put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Ask yourself some crucial questions, such as-
- Why do I need this product?
- What problem is this product helping me solve?
- What makes this product or brand different from competitors?
Getting into the mindset of your demographic will help you figure out how to appeal to them directly, thus driving more sales and traffic to your site and/or storefront.
Step Three: Customize Your Content
Although social media sites are all about connecting people, that doesn’t mean that they’re the same. As such, you need to create content that will be shareable and accessible for each platform. Here are some tips to consider-
- Facebook is great for video content.
- Instagram is built around images, but clips will also work well.
- Twitter is best used for hashtags and links.
Overall, you want to research the different sites and tailor your material to fit best within the confines of each one. Also, figure out which platform has the most of your target demographic(s) so that you’re not wasting time on a site that won’t make waves with them.
Step Four: Engage, Engage, Engage
Social media is all about engagement, but many businesses forget that. Sure, you may post content regularly, but how often do you respond to direct messages or comments? Do you follow or like any of your customer’s pages?
Most people who are on social media not only appreciate when companies talk to them, but they expect it. Thus, if you’re not putting the time in to start a dialogue between you and your customers, your engagement will go downhill fast. After that, it won’t matter how enticing your content is because people will stop paying attention.
Step Five: Analyze Your Results
Finally, the best thing you can do with social media marketing (and any other campaigns you have running) is to see what’s working and what isn’t. This is why setting quantifiable goals at the beginning is such a crucial move. Without crunching the numbers, how can you be sure that your efforts are paying off?
Fortunately, most social sites have tools you can use to see how your campaign is working, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get this data. However, reading and understanding the numbers is one thing, don’t be afraid to make adjustments along the way.
Are video ads getting more likes and shares? Then start focusing more on creating and posting those. Is one social site barely getting any engagement? Then cut your losses and move on. By restructuring your campaign based on real-world data, you can get a much higher ROI because you’re not wasting time on moves that aren’t working, and invest in ones that are.
Contact Automate Your Social Today
If you’re ready to start your social media marketing, then contact us today. Not only can we help you find out the information you need to get up and running, but we can create automated systems that will keep your success moving forward into the future.
Resources: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-marketing-strategy/
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/social-media-marketing-strategy/
