Social media is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. It serves two main purposes – it’s an effective way to engage with people who already love your brand, while also being an important tool for reaching people who have yet to hear of your business.
But how does your business go about making the most of social media? Here are five simple hints and tips to get you started…
Make a plan
Social media is easy to use – it wouldn’t be so popular if it wasn’t. However, that’s no excuse to just dive in and hope for the best. Like any marketing strategy, you need to set your goals and objectives. Take a look at your direct competitors and see how they use social media – learn from them. Even better, take a look at businesses in an unrelated sector – techniques that they use could help to make you stand out from the crowd.
Choose your platform
Deciding which of the many social media platforms is right for you requires a little research. Knowing what platforms your target audience congregates to is a good start. Again, it’s helpful to see how others in your industry operate. Unless you have a dedicated social media team, you probably won’t have the time to devote to every possible platform. Choosing three or four strong contenders will do. Our main tip – whatever sector you work in, you need a Facebook presence.
Expand your audience
Given time, your current audience will find you on one platform or another. The trick is expanding that audience using the tools at your disposal. Most platforms offer an extensive range of analytic tools that help you identify your target audience based on specific demographics, so you can develop an effective advertising campaign. Facebook Ads even allows you to upload your existing customer list to find similar users to target with your campaigns.
Quality over quantity
No matter how much somebody loves your product, or how interested they might be in your service, a cardinal rule of social media is that nobody likes spam content. Social media isn’t just a place to sell your wares. It’s a place to share content that is interesting, entertaining or (best of all) both. These are the posts that get the most engagement. Concentrate on quality content across a couple of social media platforms, rather than constantly posting ‘Buy It Now’ links on every platform you can think of.
Engage your audience
This is the key to a lot of social media marketing. Today’s consumer wants to believe they have a relationship with a given brand that goes beyond monetary transactions. If a customer (either existing or potential) takes the time to leave a comment on your post, you should take the time to respond to it. Even if you’re just clicking the ‘like’ icon beneath their comment, they will feel a greater attachment to you which, in turn, engenders greater brand loyalty.
If your business needs a helping hand putting together a social media marketing strategy, view our website for details, or contact us for more information.
