Social media marketing is an important part of any company’s strategy. It’s a way to reach out and connect with new customers, as well as existing ones. But for many companies, social media marketing can be difficult to execute correctly. This blog post will provide 11 tips that you can use today for better social media marketing strategies!
Create a strategy for each social media platform
Every social media platform is unique in how it is used, and in what it is good for. Understanding the nuances of each platform will help you to create a different strategy on how to best use that particular social media site.
Engagement rates are higher when posts contain relevant components for each platform, like hashtags and mentions of other accounts, so take advantage by adding them to your content whenever suitable.
Schedule posts ahead of time
It’s not always possible or convenient to be online all day long, which means there might be times when you don’t post anything for days. This will make your account appear inactive and can lower engagement rates, so it’s important to plan ahead with posting times that best suit you!
A lot of social media platforms have tools that allow you to schedule posts in advance so that you can plan ahead.
Be aware of the latest updates to your social media network
It’s important to stay on top of any changes happening with your social media sites, as these will affect how content is displayed and shared. Platforms often add new features or change their algorithms for displaying posts: this could mean an increase in traffic and engagement, or it may reduce the number of likes, shares and comments.
Social media post frequency and timing
It may seem like the more posts you have out there, the better but this isn’t always true. Posting too much content at once will overwhelm your followers and they might decide not to engage with your posts.
When you post on social media is just as important as what you’re posting. There’s a science to knowing when in the day it makes sense for people to be interacting online: there are optimal times of day and days of the week, depending on who your audience is and how they prefer to use social media. You will find information in analytics for some networks on how different days and times of day are performing.
However, if you don’t have access to this data, here’s a general rule of thumb: the best time is Thursday or Friday at noon for content geared towards business professionals; Tuesday morning works well for educational materials; Wednesday evening before people go home from work is ideal for entertainment.
We recommend doing at least one post a day, but don’t let that be your only strategy! Posting more frequently will give you better reach and visibility in the social media sphere.
Post consistently and often to maintain trust with your followers.
Interact with your followers
Engage your followers with interactive content like quizzes, polls or contests that encourage them to share their thoughts with you.
Monitor what’s going on by doing daily routine checks for new posts, mentions of your brand name in social media channels, reactions from customers and spend some time building a relationship with your followers.
Don’t just post and forget! You’ll need to engage with your followers on a regular basis to keep them interested in what you’re offering and satisfied with their experience as customers.
If you are updating regularly, it will be more likely that people will return for future posts, so make sure the content is relevant and engaging.
Use video in your social media posts
Video has been proven to be more effective in getting people to take action than any other social media post types. Videos can be used to show products, make announcements or share customer testimonials.
Live video is also working well for some brands, but make sure you have a strategy and goal for the video before you post it.
Post images with your content
If you’re posting links on Facebook and Twitter, for example, it’s a good idea to include an image that will give readers a visual of what the post is about and to grab their attention. Posts with images have been found to get 60% more engagement than those without.
Test and measure your results
Figure out what types of posts are working best for your social media strategy and measure the results. Some examples would be how many likes, shares or comments individual posts receive as well as how they affect metrics such as reach and engagement rates.
Most social media platforms have analytics tools that will tell you how your posts performed, and this information can be used to tweak future posts.
Give people something of value
People don’t want to follow brands on social media for the sake of following them – they need a reason! Give people something valuable by providing useful content like blog post links or promotions that are relevant to your followers.
If you’re not providing something of value, people will stop following and unfollowing and go elsewhere.
Create a social media marketing plan
You can’t just create posts at random with no regard for what’s going on in the world or how it could affect your company – that is social media marketing suicide!
To be successful you will need to create a social media marketing plan.
In your plan, you will need to have a goal in mind and decide on what type of content you want to produce – like videos or blog posts. You’ll also need to identify which platforms are best for the type of content that you’re producing. For example, if your goals is to provide helpful tips about your products, YouTube is a great platform to use.
Once you have those three things in mind, the next step would be figuring out what your “Unique Selling Proposition” or USP will be. This is important because it’s how you differentiate yourself from other companies who are also on social media marketing platforms and making content for the same target market.
Have a social media marketing champion
For your social media marketing to be a success, you will need someone to be your social media champ! They will be accountable and focused on creating and implimenting the strategies in your plan.
Looking for more tips? CLICK HERE to check out our article on making your Facebook Posts more effective
