Using social media for marketing appears to be simple on the surface. However, the fierce competition has made it extremely difficult to make a unique and memorable effect online.
So far, there are 20 million businesses on Instagram and even more on Facebook. People release millions of posts every day and yours can easily drown in the abyssal depth of social media.
Despite this, all hope is not lost. If you apply the appropriate social media hacks, you can be a huge success, without even having to break the bank. Because more than half of the world’s population uses social media, you have a decent chance of succeeding.
This article helps you explore ten of the best social media marketing tips that can improve your media strategies and subsequently, your business. You’ll learn to make the right decisions and use methods that will bolster your marketing techniques.
Benefits of a Good Social Media Marketing Strategy
Today, 7 out of 10 Americans use social media and businesses have taken notice. With different well-executed social media strategies, the benefits are endless.
Here are a few benefits of a great social media strategy:
- Increased brand awareness
- Larger audience growth
- Improved connection with customers
- Increased website traffic
- Generation more leads
- Better sales and profit margins
With these benefits, there should be no doubt that social media should be a key component of your general marketing efforts.
10 Smart Social Media Marketing Tips You Should Know
When you’re in the social media marketing game, you need as many ideas as you can get to get the best results. Here are ten social media marketing tips you must know.
1. Create Ideal Social Media Marketing Goals
The biggest downfall of even the best social media strategies is a lack of proper goals to back them up. Setting goals naturally increases the likelihood of social media success and yet, several businesses give scant thought to creating social media goals.
When you don’t have clearly stated goals, you won’t be able to evolve your strategies over time. Having objectives will not only boost your chances of success but also serve as a barometer for measuring your progress.
Describe the specific outcomes you want to accomplish with your social media activity, and ensure that they align with your business goals. To turn a marketing goal into actual success, your goals should be clear, realistic, measurable, and time-specific.
2. Take Some Time To Know Your Audience
To develop a deep understanding of your target audience, you need to take some time out to conduct adequate research.
You would have to consider things like, how often are they online? What kind of information do they need? What ideas are relevant to them? And how do they want such information delivered to them?
The knowledge of all this information is integral to building relationships and creating content that is relevant to them.
How can you gain such information?
- Surveying your audience to better grasp their habits
- Carefully examining their demographics
- Using forums to connect with your target audience
- Acquiring feedback using different social media tools.
Once you get a feel for your target audience, you’re better equipped to help them. It not only makes your social media strategy more effective but also helps you define your goals better so you can achieve growth.
3. Craft Your Social Media Content Meticulously
Every type of content you put out on social media should be carefully researched. If you’re posting content just for the sake of it – you’re going about it all wrong.
An important aspect to consider is the social media network you’re posting on. You’ll need to learn the pros and cons of each platform.
For instance, LinkedIn is a professional platform that is ideal for business-to-business audiences. While a platform like Facebook is more suited for news/entertainment-related content. Facebook Groups can also be a great way to connect with your target audience.
Platforms like Instagram are perfect for highly visual content but not lucrative for providing good traffic to a blog. Whereas Pinterest, a platform similar to Instagram, is well-suited to driving traffic back to your blog.
Creating content can be quite time-consuming. However, there are various social media tools available that can make the process far easier. Examples are picture editing tools like Photoshop, and grammar editing tools like Grammarly.
The way you present your content should vary depending on the social network you’re posting on. You may need to learn skills like:
- Copywriting techniques.
- How to address your audience directly.
- Use intriguing hooks to begin your social media posts.
- How to write a description on every link you post.
When you perfect your social media content and its delivery, you’ll experience better engagement rates and generate more sales.
4. Use Innovative Marketing Tactics
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Several traditional marketing strategies went out the window a few years ago. Nowadays, most customers don’t just want to be sold to, they want to establish connections and relationships with businesses.
Though these connections are often basic, it’s the best way to get your followers or audience to trust you. And when they trust you, they’ll always patronize you. So avoid posting too many promotions and lean towards more mainstream marketing strategies such as connecting and engaging with your audience.
5. Avoid Spreading Yourself Too Thin
This is very essential especially when working with limited resources. You will have to concentrate your social media efforts in areas that can provide the most return for your efforts. It would be counterproductive to spread yourself over multiple social media platforms, especially when you have limited resources.
Also, there’s no gain in spending time on social networks that don’t hold a significant portion of your target audience. Only focus on those with a high number of the kind of people you want to reach. Note that if you join a new platform, you’ll have to spend additional time and effort creating specific content for that platform.
6. Analyze the Competition and Your Industry Peers
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Your competition is an indispensable source of knowledge. Although they may not give you such knowledge willingly, you can do your research to understand and imbibe their successful marketing methods.
Observe the content your peers and competitors are creating and identify what exactly works for them. With a little insight, you can copy their content type and add your unique twist to it.
7. Use Images With Most of Your Content
Images are very important for online content. Statistics show that visual content is way more likely to get shared on social media than any other content type. Always add photos to your social media posts, even text-based ones. A good visual representation can easily send the right message and create brand recognition.
8. Create a Recognizable Posting Schedule
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Social media marketing requires continuous commitment. Hence, you have to post constantly to maintain growth and retain online relevance. The more your audience sees your content, the easier it is to build trust with them.
Start by using a recognizable schedule to post your content. This would give your customers an idea of when to expect new updates and information. You can use an excel spreadsheet to create a content calendar that’ll help you properly map out your posting schedule.
You can even employ social media tools that can automate the entire posting process.
9. Target Peak Viewing Times to Post Your Content
It’s vital that you research the optimum viewing periods of your social media platform. This will ensure that your social media strategy is more effective. How?
Knowing your peak period and Uploading your content at peak periods ensures higher engagements, traffic, and exposure.
You can get the needed information by using online guides or doing your testing, to see which days and times work best for your target audience.
10. Develop a Social Media Style Guide
A social media style guide is used to create a consistent method of communication within various social media platforms. Whether you’re a one-man team or have different employees posting to your social media accounts, you’ll need a style guide that clearly describes how posts look and feel.
Your style guide defines:
- The voice of your brand on all social media platforms.
- The writing style used on your posts.
- How hashtags and emojis should be used on your accounts.
- The colors and logos should be in your content.
Bottom Line
Social media marketing involves a lot of time and effort, but the benefits are easy to recognize. Not taking them seriously can make you miss large business opportunities because you won’t be very successful at getting customers, online visibility, and impressive sales.
Our social media marketing tips to improve your marketing strategy will help you make the most out of your business and ensure success. However, it is best to remember that social networks were primarily created for communication. Hence, making your audience a top priority and communicating with them is integral to experiencing good results.
