Did you know that 77% of small businesses are currently engaged in some form of social media marketing? Check out the best webinar services of 2021 from Webinarcare website.
It’s an incredible figure and if you’re not actively engaging your customers already then it may be time to rethink your social media marketing management strategy.
Social media presence is essential for bringing in customers and maintaining a solid brand.
If you’ve decided to add social media to your marketing channels recently it can all be a bit of a headache. Never fear, read on and we’ll show you seven hot social media marketing tips to get you going in the right direction.
Table of Contents
1. Focus On Your Target Audience
Tight targetting is essential for social media marketing. Generic marketing campaigns are never a good idea and social media’s whole draw comes from the ability to tightly target your audience.
Who your audience is will also determine which of the popular social media channels you should be focusing on.
Figure out the following before you go any further. You need to know where your ideal customer falls in the following categories:
- Age
- Gender
- Rough Income
- Hobbies
- Job Industry
This will give you a decent ideal customer profile, to begin with. The tighter you target your audience the easier the whole affair becomes.
2. Picking Your Channels
While Facebook is the first thing that comes to mind for many people who are getting into marketing via social media it’s market share may not be perfect for your business.
We still strongly recommend using Facebook but it’s not the be-all, end-all of social media marketing. Instead, you’ll need to look at the demographics for social media sites and determine where your target audience is most likely to be.
Facebook is still a strong contender but for the younger crowd, it’s often a good idea to tap Instagram as well.
YouTube is a leader in the social media world but utilizing it correctly requires resources which may not be available to all businesses.
Lastly, niche markets have enjoyed a lot of success on Pinterest and Linked In. Linked In is a necessary channel for B2B usage while Pinterest is an excellent way to raise your brand profile for those who are selling clothing, jewelry, and other consumer items.
3. Use Quantifiable Goals
In theory “increasing social media presence” and “getting 10,000 followers” are pretty much the same thing.
In practice, the latter is a much better measure of success.
Quite often, those engaged in social media marketing just hope for the best. Avoid doing that by creating goals with solid numbers so that you know you’re getting what you need out of your social media channels.
Quantifiable goals can be based on the ROI of your paid advertisements, conversion rates, impressions, or follower numbers. Set them realistically and you’ve already got a leg up on the competition who aren’t using hard numbers to back their marketing campaigns.
4. Develop a Unique Voice
Do you remember Wendy’s social media campaigns?
The company increased its market share significantly during the opening year of their snarky, irreverent social media posts. They went viral constantly, a quick search in Google shows that there are extended lists with people’s favorites. They were screenshotted and spread across social media sites.
In short, it was a massive success.
They attained this success through two main factors: direct engagement with their customers and a consistent voice that changed the image of their brand.
You can do the same, although it will definitely take some time and talent.
The important thing is to create a voice that is in-line with your brand and use it across all the channels you’re marketing with. You don’t necessarily need to go the snarky route which Wendy’s popularized but you should be able to show something different compared to the thousands of companies who are just hoping that their users will become customers.
5. Engage Your Followers
Social media’s keyword is the first one.
While sporadic updates about your products and services are nice, you’ll get much better results from actually engaging with those who are on your page.
That can mean answering questions, thanking people for their purchase if they mention buying and generally using your social media similarly to how you’d engage with an in-person customer.
If you can maintain your voice through this process, so much the better. Engagement is the difference between having a Facebook page for occasional use and being able to actively grow through social media.
6. Post Regularly
Many small businesses make the mistake of only updating their page when they want to let customers know about a new offer or deal.
Instead, you should be making regular posts. If your “voice” doesn’t allow for some level of play then regularly promoting discount offers through promo codes and posting news in your industry can make a good middle ground.
Create a posting schedule and stick with it. Regular updates will keep you in user’s feeds which increases metrics across the board. It can also help to foster a sense of community and increase trust with your customers.
7. Consider Purchasing Engagement
Yes, it feels kind of shady. We know.
We also know that those first few followers are incredibly hard to get. Purchasing followers, likes, and other analytics can give you an initial boost that makes it harder for users to ignore you.
You’re basically purchasing social proof that your business is solid.
You need to be careful about how you go about utilizing this strategy. The best social media companies will slowly filter in followers and engagement to keep you from getting flagged. You don’t want a dump of 10,000 followers in one afternoon when you only have 100 right now for instance.
Given some care, however, it can provide a pretty impressive boost to the early days of your campaign. If you’re interested in giving it a shot this helpful resource breaks down some of the big companies out there with ratings and valuable experience.
Enjoy Our Social Media Marketing Tips?
Social media is increasingly relevant to every type of business. You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you’re not trying to use it to it’s fullest advantage.
Follow our social media marketing tips to make sure that you’re on the route to success and not falling into the trap of generic goals and content that have caught so many. It’s one of the best ways to get a leg up on the competition.
If you’re ready to get started, be sure to check out our unbreakable rules for social media marketing to make sure you’re getting off on the right foot.