Every successful business owner knows that social media marketing needs to be an integral part of their strategy, but what many don’t know is that it doesn’t have to be difficult or costly to get started, and even small businesses can benefit from it. The good news? You can find success with social media if you follow these nine simple steps in creating your social media marketing strategy.
Table of Contents
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing strategy is about engaging with your customers via channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. It’s about understanding their thoughts, feelings and experiences and then shaping your brand accordingly. Here are some examples of how businesses are using social platforms to find success. For example, Red Bull uses its Youtube page as a place for people who like action sports to submit their own videos of various stunts they’ve performed; after being featured on Red Bull’s channel on Youtube, these videos often go viral in other ways. That is just one example of how using social platforms can benefit you and if you really want advice that works best for you, it helps to talk with someone who knows what they are doing.
Strategies for Instagram
Instagram is still one of our favourite ways to find and engage with new customers. Since it can be an incredibly visual platform, however, you’ll want to focus on finding quality content rather than producing your own. Look for hashtags and accounts related to your industry or services. For example, if you sell dresses then search #weddingdresses or #instadress. After following those accounts you can look at their photos and like them so they pop up on your feed again. Now that you’ve found great posts related to what you do, use them as inspiration for new posts of your own.
Active approach
Social media marketing strategy is an active process, not just an exercise in pushing out messages. The goal is more engagement and action, so it’s essential that you’re actively engaged with your community rather than merely promoting yourself or your brand. The best way to do that? Participate in relevant conversations, share content from others, ask questions and listen more on that later. At every stage of your business journey, you need social communities to share and engage with your content for there to be value for your business. That’s why so many marketers count their Twitter followers as dollars earned its free advertising and exposure. If you want customers, you need advocates; if you want advocates, you need people who feel listened to and heard first.
Sample social media goals for 2022 and beyond
Below are three goals you can use as inspiration for your social media campaign: You want 5,000 Instagram followers. You want 50 new likes on Facebook each week. You want 10 retweets and 20 shares per tweet you send out. If you write specific, measurable goals like these and then do your best to meet them (perhaps with some automation tools.) you’ll be well on your way toward having a successful social media presence by 2022. Write down your specific, measurable goals before moving on to step two below. Put them somewhere visible so that they’ll be top of mind when it’s time to post something later.
Social networking websites
There are almost as many networking sites online as there are websites overall. Some, like Twitter and Facebook, offer excellent opportunities for branding and promoting your business. Others, such as Tumblr and Pinterest, are best suited for promoting your product rather than for selling it directly. Just about every popular site out there has at least some elements of social media marketing strategy even if it’s just a Like button or login functionality. Understanding how to use these networks is essential when developing your SMM strategy. Whether you choose to participate in one network or all of them is up to you; each type of network offers different benefits and requires a different approach so try experimenting with different options until you find what works best for you.
Mobile phones
There are over 5 billion mobile phones on earth today and that number is rising. Mobile phone penetration has already crossed the 50% mark in most of Europe and America. The reason behind such a high adoption rate is convenience and mobility. With smartphones, you can carry your entire office with you wherever you go and with free apps, like Skype for Business, staying connected becomes easy even when you are on vacation or travelling for business purposes.
Mobile devices have also changed how we consume content. Instead of watching TV shows at home, we now watch them while commuting to work or while waiting for our friends at restaurants. On top of it all, smartphones have made us more productive than ever before by providing us instant access to our emails and calendars. If you are looking forward to expanding your business internationally then make sure you keep these things in mind:
Algorithms
Companies like Facebook and Google use algorithms to give your content an extra push on their platforms. It’s important that you follow guidelines established by these companies, but it’s even more important that you understand how they work. The biggest tip for getting your content shown by algorithms? Write snackable content. That is articles between 100 and 400 words long with graphics and videos included, each of which makes it easier for people to read or watch them. People are more likely to share snackable content on social media sites because it’s easy to digest quickly.
Local businesses
Although it may seem counterintuitive, today’s local businesses can take advantage of internet-based communication tools that didn’t exist ten years ago. Today, most of us have personal relationships with large companies (Coca-Cola), and other brands we interact with frequently (Target, Cheerios). But how many times have you gone out of your way to research and buy something from a smaller business? Probably not too often. This is called local fragmentation, or large companies and their products being visible across all mediums. Small businesses need to fight for customer loyalty by leveraging digital communication tools to connect with potential customers.
Respond to your customer questions and shout-outs ASAP
It’s frustrating for customers when they reach out to you and don’t get a response. Make sure you respond quickly and provide them with answers or resolutions to their problem. How quickly? Try responding within two hours and even that might seem like an eternity compared with how companies responded just five years ago. Customers today want service immediately, so be sure that all your staff knows exactly what you expect from them. Reaching out is easy, so customers will try more often if they don’t feel heard and responded to; be ready. And if staff isn’t responding appropriately? Be prepared to have frank conversations with them and let them know what you expect from them moving forward.
Pro-tip: conduct a competitive analysis to help your content stand out
Knowing your audience is key to making sure you’re creating content that will resonate with them. Conducting a competitive analysis allows you to quickly discover how your competitors are distributing their content and what they’re doing well or poorly. You can then use that information as part of your own strategy when crafting your own posts or campaigns. You can do so by simply monitoring what they publish, but doing an actual deep dive into their statistics and performing your own analysis will give you insights beyond just publication habits, like what kinds of keywords they rank for and more about their audience demographics.
According to research by MarketingSherpa, 93% of customers trust recommendations from people they know. And while we spend hundreds of hours on Facebook and Instagram each year, those platforms have yet to reach their full potential as referral engines. That’s why some companies are turning their attention toward another popular (and free) chat app: WhatsApp. The platform is particularly useful for small businesses due to its vast user base (1 billion active users.) and because it allows for one-on-one interactions with customers an important advantage over other channels that connect companies with customers en masse. As such, you should use your WhatsApp business account primarily as a customer service tool. This means providing timely responses and answering questions about your brand and even responding when people reach out just for fun.
Do your homework on your existing social media audience
The first step in marketing strategy is to research your existing audience on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. See what content they’re responding well to now, and get an idea of where you can fit in there. If you don’t have much of an existing audience, that’s okay. Look at which topics or demographics already have good followings and focus on creating something new for them. Either way, you want a pretty firm sense of what your audience wants so that you can give it to them. Once you know who they are, then you can look at how they interact with each other on social media.
YouTube
Perhaps one of the most popular of all, YouTube is a place where you can share your personal and professional life with others. If you have enough video content, then you could try monetizing it by promoting products as an affiliate. This could add another layer of income on top of your main job, all from doing something that you enjoy. And if you really want to become successful, creating videos that other people will like and sharing them across social media might be your secret sauce for success.
Conclusion
Social media is an incredibly powerful way for brands to connect with their audience, but it’s important that your efforts align with the overall brand strategy. Social media is not one-size-fits-all and requires careful planning, ongoing effort and thoughtful execution. But once you’ve created a strong social presence through your different platforms, it can help drive sales by communicating your value proposition and encouraging people to purchase from you. Next time you’re starting a new business endeavor or launching an updated company plan, don’t forget about creating a well-thought-out social media marketing strategy. The investment will pay off in spades when it comes time for sales.